adding goldfish to pond in winter?

On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 15:47:07 GMT, figaro wrote:

The question: is it safe to move a 6 inch sarassa comet goldfish from a
very small outdoor pond (50gallon) to a larger 700 gallon pond when...

1-the larger pond is much colder and the fish are already hibernating?
2-the smaller pond fish are active and still feeding? I live in soCal

What is the temperature difference? ~ jan

I would guess about 15 degrees. After reading some books and listening to
the other's advice I decided to give it a try. I took a 5 gallon bucket,
half full with pond water and transfered the fish. I let the bucket sit in
the pond for about 45 minutes gradually adding some of the new pond's water
about every 5 minutes and aerating the bucket water by hand. The fish is
now happily playing with his 6 new friends after a full 24 hours in the new
pond. There was no evidence of any shock and he was exploring right out of
the bucket. Whew! This is one beautiful fish and his fins look twice as
long in this large pond. Thanks for everyone's help. He/she will have a
wonderful, long and happy life now.