Add lots of plants right away to your fish pond. Not fish.

The pond's ecosystem can't handle a big load of fish right away. If you add too many fish or feed too much, poisonous ammonia (fish waste) will build up in the water. In established ponds the ammonia is detoxified by the biological pond filter. In a new pond, however, the biological pond filter can not detoxify a high level of ammonia.

Add only a few fish every few weeks to your fish pond. Feed them once a day for the first two weeks. Monitor the pH, ammonia and nitrite levels with test kits. This will help you monitor the water quality and know if you are feeding too much.

You can help the biological filter get established with CrystalClear AmmoniaFix or Pond Care BioFilter Booster. These fish pond water treatments contains live bacteria that "jump start" the biological filter so there will be less chance of ammonia and nitrite poisoning.