Oscar Fish - Moving from Aquarium to Pond

I have two oscar fish that I can no longer care for. Would it be safe to move them from my aquarium to a large pond?

How big and deep is the pond? Above ground or in ground? They probably will not survive your winter.

What do you mean by a large pond? Is it your pond? Is it connected to any creeks or anything like that?

It's a pretty big in ground pond we have here at work. You're probably right, they might have survive the winter b/c the pond does ice up. The pond is filled with catfish and kois though. I wonder how they survive through the winter.

If theres ice on the pond the oscars will die. There is no plural for koi. Just like deer.

Oscars are tropical and need their temps to be 70-85 degrees (75-80 being optimal). The Oscars would die in the winter.

The Koi and catfish are not tropical fish and can survive the lower tempuratures (both specie will go into a semi-hibernation in winter).

If you can no longer care for them take them to your local fish store and surrender them, or post an add on Craigslist or other venue and give the oscars away (or try to sell them)



Dave

How big are the Oscars?

Stourmy,

you need a big tank for a pair of Oscars (40 gallon minimum) and they don't do well with tank mates as they eat any fish they can fit in their mouth.



Dave

My husband and I used to have a 55g setup for his oscars and we would feed them goldfish regularly. I was asking because my husband is still in mourning the loss of his oscars. (We had to give them away cause our two oldest kids put toothpaste in their tank. The kids were 2 and 3 years old. they are not 10 and 11)
I know a lot about Oscars, not everything but a lot.

Great. I can walk you through some of the shipping proceedures if you need and the original poster will ship his oscars.

Shipping is easy, get Kordon breather bags and ship with lots of water, pack in express box with styrofoam sheeting on bottom, sides and top inside the express box, overnight shipping and you are ready to acclimate to your tank.

It is helpful if the fish being shipped have not been fed for a couple days to reduce the chances of ammonia building in the shipping water due to the fish waste.

Shipping Priority would work too as long as there is enough water around each fish.

Yeah now to convince my hubby I need money for shipping and the other associated Oscar related products.

What are Kordon breather bags? Shipping fish with lots of water? Use 1/3 and 2/3 O2. Not air O2. I would ship in half box bags. One fish per bag. I have shipped fish daily for 35 plus years.

Dr. Who wrote:

What are Kordon breather bags? Shipping fish with lots of water? Use 1/3 and 2/3 O2. Not air O2. I would ship in half box bags. One fish per bag. I have shipped fish daily for 35 plus years.

http://www.novalek.com/kordon/breathing_bags/index.htm

These allow O2 in and CO2 out and work great. I have recieved fish and shrimp in these bags and the water almost never smells bad when I get the animals; conversely, when I have recieved fish and shrimp in regular plastic bags used to transport fish (.5mm or so thickness) in the cases where there was enough or extra water the animals were healthy, and if not enough water was used the animals died within days (ammonia and CO2 poisoning the suspected cause).

Kordon Breather bags let you use less water per fish to get the same result when shipping.

Ken's Fish sells the bags.

Dave

I wonder if those are the bags "retail" stores receive their fish shipments in?

No Stormy they are not which is why retail stores have such a big loss of fish. That and they don't acclimate the new fish in a method that gradually gets the new fish up to tempurature and the fish acclimated to any changes in water chemistry from the area they were shipped from to the new tanks.

That explains why some fish you buy, die for no apparent reason. Shock and chemical burns from initial shipment to store, then new shock from second trip to home. I feel so sorry for the fish.

not chemical burns, rather too many impurities like amonia and CO2 buildup in the water from naturally occuring events (closed system and fish put CO2 and amonia in their water with their breathing and their waste).

The reasons we don't have amonia build up in our tanks most of the time are 1) that with our circulation or use of air stones we are able to rid the amonia as it evaporates from our tanks at the surface, and 2) Amonia will start the cycle and turn to nitrite which turns to nitrate. In a fully cycled tank this changing from amonia to nitrate is aided by beneficial bacteria. Also Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate can and are absorbed by plants along with CO2 and turned into either helpful or neutral elements.

No, I am not a chemist, and I did not sleep in a Holliday Inn Express last night.

When I say chemical burns on fish I meant Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate damage.

To be a fish enthusiast you have to be part chemist, if only to do the water tests.

In soft and low ph water,ammonia is not a problem or is bacteria. In hard and high ph water ammonia is a real problem. As an Importer I do not acclimated the fish. I cut bag open pour fish into net and then dump into aquarium. That even goes for cardinals to high ph water. On my end its better to get fish out of shipping water into clean water. If your comment about losing fish at the store is true. Then they need to find another supplier. When I ship via my truck or by air freight I see less than a one percent loss on fish. Most of the loss are from delayed flights. When I ship fish they are packed on O2. When you brake the bag open you colapse the surface area. Thus you start to stress fish. If the fish come in cool and you have opened the bag. As the water warms it hold less O2. Again stressing fish.

Dr. Who wrote:

In soft and low ph water,ammonia is not a problem or is bacteria. In hard and high ph water ammonia is a real problem. As an Importer I do not acclimated the fish. I cut bag open pour fish into net and then dump into aquarium. That even goes for cardinals to high ph water. On my end its better to get fish out of shipping water into clean water. If your comment about losing fish at the store is true. Then they need to find another supplier. When I ship via my truck or by air freight I see less than a one percent loss on fish. Most of the loss are from delayed flights. When I ship fish they are packed on O2. When you brake the bag open you colapse the surface area. Thus you start to stress fish. If the fish come in cool and you have opened the bag. As the water warms it hold less O2. Again stressing fish.

Around here the disease and death rate of fish imported to the pet stores (even the chain stores) can be over 1/2 the fish that come in to the store. The shipping water usually smells bad, and they usually have shipped too many fish in a bag at a time (gallon or bigger bags with say 20 1/2 dollar sized angels).

Dave

Your the expert and if you knew anything smelly bags mean nothing. Fish are drugged but you know that. So your general statement is shippers don't know what the f k there doing. I disagree with what your saying. Shippers know what there doing and you and the stores don't. Again why in the world would a store cntinue to lose the fish and continue to buy. If I shipped those fish with those loses I would tell them its time to find another supplier. I have done that before.

Dr Who, I realize you like many other breeders take extra care to make sure that the fish arive in a timely manor in great condition as do many specialty breeders or breeders that only raise a limited number of specie.

The problem around here is three fold: 1) we are rural so the fish stay in their packaging an extra few days before they get to us. 2) the pet stores don't acclimate the fish like you or I would (I use the drip method), and 3) some of the very large suppliers don't ship the fish in enough water or they ship too many fish in the same bag.

I have recieved most of my fish in very good condition when buying direct from a breeder, it was only when I imported from over seas and went through a third party that I had issues with water quality and dead animals.


I would also be interested in the species you have available as I know that the people here on this site would ship fish that are in extremely good condition and their wouldn't be a high death rate upon receipt of the fish.

Dave

First off I have breed many types of fish in the past. I had a farm in Flordia years ago. I wholesale fish now and raise ghost shrimp. The fish and shrimp I ship daily. The shrimp are the real money. I ship 400 to 500 thousand every week. Dave I'm not on this site to promote my business. I have all the business I care to handle. AKA the women who run the business for me tell me that. I spend most of time in Cancun. I return every now and then. This past weekend I had to be in Beaumont Tx.
Yes you are correct about breeders caring more. When I breed fish for profit you do things alot different than small breeders. Its not any harder to raise 10,000 fry as oppose to 100 fry.