I've had a pretty sizable aquarium once, and had problems with the fishies constantly dying on me. they (fish and aquariums) can be pretty draining, especially if you didn't know anything about keeping fishies to begin with. I only imagine a pond is more difficult.
damn, didn't realize that part. good point breh. moral of tale: get an aquarium. if you don't succeed, you can at least sell it.
I remember that time I bought some cool colored fish species at Pets Mart. Unfortunately, I killed them changing the water in the tank directly. I got so used to the hardier fish that can tolerate direct water changes that I ended up murdering these poor little guys. Some fish can withstand direct water changes better than others and the less water changed at maintenance time...the better (10% - 20% water change is a good rule of thumb). Obviously, you can adjust your water in a separate container before adding or do it directly (depending on the species of fish). For these fish, it probably won't matter. But, all that stuff stresses fish. Ideally, the water would be pre-treated, pH adjusted, and temperature adjusted before you add it. I don't see any liquid containing beneficial bacteria as being harmful to fish but you should read the label first and foremost for instructions. Usually, part of that process is just letting the water sit for 24 hours and any remaining chlorine will evaporate off. It helps if you have a second tank to transfer and hold fish in while you clean the main tank. Sometimes, I just used a cooler and water from the tank being cleaned with air stones. I pretty much gave up on the whole fish tank thing. It's a pain in the ass imo to maintain a tank. I remember I had one of those algae suckers and it died while I was away for a few weeks. By the time I got back, it had a bloom all around it rotting and it smelled something awful in the apartment. That was a disgusting tank clean-out. Poor other fish in the tank had to tolerate it. I've also had worms in my tank before. It's nasty. But, yea, good filtration is key to any tank and keeping it clean with the good bacteria doing their job. Regular maintenance and water changes is also key as well as vacuuming poo. I would imagine an outdoor pond could be more difficult to maintain than just a tank. And, I would imagine those fish in the pond are pretty tolerant to water temperature fluctuations, i.e. hardy. But, the idea is you want to disrupt the fish the least amount possible and keep them as stress free as possible. And, yea, make sure you don't crowd the fish and allow for them to grow.
Ponds are a b**** to maintain, my parents have one. My father was given at least 20 Koi fish for free and a few weeks later the oxygen got cut off and not a single fish survived.
My cichlids are breeding like mad. Hybrids emerging. Get like 20 babies every 2 months and it's like Westworld in there, every fish is having sex with every other fish. No birth control. Latest hybrid started showing purple and I don't even have a purple fish, lol...
We have a pretty sizable pond in our backyard, probably about 300 feet across. The owner before us populated it with a bunch of fish and installed an auto feeder, I think the largest ones in there are probably bass spanning 1.5 ft. Algae can be a problem so we got a large fountain that seems to do well in circulating the water without harming the fish (+ aesthetics obviously). There is also an oxygenator on the bottom I believe. Once its all set up you really don't have to do much, but then again it comes down the specs and how it was built as the last owner for ours splurged a crap ton of money on it.
4 acres, including everything. It's a b**** to maintain though, the monthly cost of just getting the grass cut is around 800-900$
