What size/volume do I need to keep 3 goldfish for 10 days?

[miamicuse]

I have a pond that will need to go through some much needed work in the next few weeks, when the temperature is cooler and the dry season should be upon us in south Florida.

I need to (a) drain the pool and clear away all the debris, leaves, seed pods and who knows what else at the bottom of the pond; (b) rebuild the piers at the bottom of the pond to support the bridge; (c) repair the piping of the intake pipes to the pump where a tree trimming crew dropped a heavy limb into the pond and cracked the pipe; (d) rebuild the entire bridge since the underlying lumber has rotted out.

I estimate I will need about ten days to do this, and need to find a place for the three goldfish that are currently in the pond. They are about 5"-6" in length. I understand a good way is to buy one of those kiddie pool and put them in there.

My question is how big a kiddie pool do I need for three fish? I assume a wheel barrow or a whiskey barrow is too small right? or three five gallon bucket one for each fish is also too small?

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Bigger is always better with goldfish. If you are unable to get a small pool for quarantine/temporary housing then just plan on doing water changes for the time period they are out of the pond.

Or maybe invest in a rubbermaid stock tank so you have it in the future should you need it (for quarantine of new fish or for a hospital tank for sick fish)

 

[j.w]

5 to 6" isn't that big and only 3. I had goldfish that size in a 32 gal aquarium for several years way back when. I had a filter and did partial water changes maybe once a week.
Only photo I could find of the fish in the aquarium, lol..................Happy Halloween!

 

[HomerJay]

You can buy a big plastic storage tub and keep them in there. If you don't have a filter, you may need to do a water change every other day, but make sure you treat the new water if it is chlorinated.

 

[Michael from Daytona]

I have a pond that will need to go through some much needed work in the next few weeks, when the temperature is cooler and the dry season should be upon us in south Florida.

I need to (a) drain the pool and clear away all the debris, leaves, seed pods and who knows what else at the bottom of the pond; (b) rebuild the piers at the bottom of the pond to support the bridge; (c) repair the piping of the intake pipes to the pump where a tree trimming crew dropped a heavy limb into the pond and cracked the pipe; (d) rebuild the entire bridge since the underlying lumber has rotted out.

View attachment 125066

I estimate I will need about ten days to do this, and need to find a place for the three goldfish that are currently in the pond. They are about 5"-6" in length. I understand a good way is to buy one of those kiddie pool and put them in there.

My question is how big a kiddie pool do I need for three fish? I assume a wheel barrow or a whiskey barrow is too small right? or three five gallon bucket one for each fish is also too small?

Your pond looks great! Love the big boulders next to the bridge. I think I recall seeing this before, when you first purchased your property. You know, I'm not sure you have to drain your pond and take your goldfish out while you do your repairs/renovations. I invested in some waders and a good pond vacuum rather than draining and cleaning my adjoining concrete/and/tile lined ponds. I think the goldies might undergo more stress at being placed in confined quarters than seeing some legs walking around in their domicile. Plus, you wouldn't have to worry about your project time frame so much. Ten days seems a little rushed. Not having seen your pump intake (PVC or metal?), I'm not sure how easy it would be to repair/replace the damage from the tree trunk. If you can't get the assembly out of the water, PVC is relatively easy to cut with a hand saw and given the joints would be under negative pressure you wouldn't have to worry about cementing the replacement piece as vacuum would keep it all together.

While treated lumber would certainly be a consideration for the bridge repair, I would power wash and drain the new lumber thoroughly before installing to get surface salts out of the wood - so arsenic doesn't leach down into the water during rainstorms. Similarly, your piers should be cement block rather than treated 4x4s.

I purchased a pond vac from The Pond Guy for about $350, which seemed a little pricey at first but this is a terrific piece of equipment that also came in handy when my Mini Roadster convertible sprung a leak in its top and flooded the interior. I sucked out 15 gallons of water using that vac!

Organic detritus (leaves, fish waste, etc) is only bad when dissolved nitrates begin to build up per testing. I use snails, plecos and bacterial sludge digesters along with a pressurized filter and UV light to help keep pondwater clean.

As you are aware (I live in Daytona Beach), Florida has had a comparatively wet year and so rainwater has contributed to keeping pond levels up without replenishment. I switched from treated tapwater to collecting rainwater runoff in "blue" barrels and using that to offset evaporation - after having an accident where I left tapwater on for several hours, killing all my fish. I took six months off to study what I had learned over my first year before attempting to keep fish again. I put a timer on my water tap, installed the rain barrel system, put a couple of inches of river rock on the pond bottoms, and doubled the size of my filtration system. That was six months ago, and my new fish are doing fine and growing like

weeds.

 

[Phaewryn]

A 45" kiddie pool filled to the brim will work and is inexpensive, https://www.lowes.com/pd/Summer-Wav...n-W-Blue-Plastic-Round-Kiddie-Pool/1000187773 is nearly 30 gallons, which is enough so long as you have a good mechanical filter in place and rinse/change the filter media often. I wouldn't go much under 30 gallons for 3 fish that size, or 10 gallons each minimum if you want to do three buckets, but 10 gallon buckets aren't common. Three of these muck buckets would work fine (20 gallons each), or you could use three 10 gallon aquariums which are also very common, but then you'd need three filters too: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Selections-22-3-in-W-x-22-3-in-H-x-16-5-in-D-Blue-Plastic-Basket/3198981. The kiddie pool is a good inexpensive solution as it only needs one filter and one aerator, but it's shallow, so be sure you cover it with some sturdy wire to protect the fish from predators as they will have no-where to go to run away in an open shallow pool like that.