buying fish from a store

[chris]

I was in petco today and they had small Shubunkin Goldfish.
in the tank they where 2.49 which is a good price.
they where swiming and eating they looked good.
and the rest of the fish look good also and in the tank
at the bottom they had a small cup with holes it said
we use pond salt. which is a good thing.
so i have not got any fish from the pet store in years
excpet my feeders that i got in the spring which are now huge.
so if i buy these what steps should i take to make
sure every thing goes well. the water in the fish tank is a lot colder then my pond. the pond temp is like 75 to 80.
do i buy them and let the bag sit in teh water for a while and
then open it. or should i take my own bucket with a little bit
of water and stress coat from my pond what do i do.
petco checks there water a lot i trust them

[koikeepr]

Normally you would put the fish in a quarantine tank (QT) for 3-6 weeks and watch them to make sure they are okay and you can put 'em in the pond without introducing some parasite or illness into the pond. Unfortunately most of us do not have a QT, so we try to buy from reputable breeders and shops who quarantine fish before selling them to us (Well, at least we believe them when they tell us they do this). Petco and Petsmart do not quarantine and just stick their fish in the tank and start selling. However, if you are comfortable with your Petco and like the way the fish look in the tanks--by all means buy them if you like.

But, yes, you would need to acclimate the fish to the pond. So, you would float the bag for about 20 minutes so that the water temp in the bag and the pond match each other as closely as possible. DO NOT float the bag in direct sunlight, as you can bake the fish in the bag and kill them. Either buy the fish early in the morning or evening when this heavy sun isn't so bad, or find a way to shelter the bag from direct sunlight while it floats.

After about 20 minutes, I take a cup and start pouring some of the pond water into the bag so that the waters start to mix. After about 5 more minutes, you can gently lift the fish out of the bag and place them in the pond. Don't pour the petshop water into your pond. I don't use stress coat in my ponds, but if that makes you happy then go ahead.

That's pretty much it. A real simple, but important process. Of course, you'll follow all this up with your weekly 25% water changes to ensure great water quality.

[3qtkidz]

I have gotten some fish from Petco and B&B pet stop. They have all turned out fine. They have pretty markings and I won't be showing them in a koi show. So as long as I linke them that is really all that matters. I haven't lost one yet.

[chris]

ok thanks all