You have a beautiful outdoor pond stocked full of the fish that create a wonderful kaleidoscope of color in your backyard. If you aren't careful, though, you can come outside one day to find most of your habitat dieing or in poor health. Let's take a look at some of the ways you can monitor the health of your outdoor pond fish.

• Your tropical fish live in that pond, but so do their waste, food, oxygen and everything else from nature that may drain into the pond. It's important to keep on top of pond maintenance to keep up the well-being of your fish. One of the regular maintenance items on your list should be to take the pH level of the pond at least once a week. Know what pH level is appropriate for your fish and if you notice an increase or decrease try to find and resolve the problem before it affects the health of your tropical fish.

• Maybe you just moved some of your favorite species from the indoor aquarium to the outside pond and they just don't seem to be doing so well. It could be "new tank syndrome" as they are getting over the shock of being transported to a new environment. Tropical fish are very susceptible to stress, and moving definitely applies stress to the poor fellows! Try to introduce them gradually to the pond, and always make sure they spend at least 24 hours getting used to the temperature of the new pond before releasing them.

• Don't crowd them out! You may think you have a big pond, but you still need to keep space considerations in mind. Too many fish in the pond will quickly turn the water toxic and could potentially kill off the entire pond. Start out small and keep a record of how many and what species you have introduced to the pond. Not only does this help plan out how many fish you can add, but if you notice a sudden change in health of the fish after adding a certain species you will have a record of where and when to help you isolate it.

• Keep on top of pond cleaning and maintenance. If you notice your fish losing their color, or becoming bloated it could be because there is too much algae, carbon dioxide or other parasites in the water. It's hard to control all the variables in an outside setting, but there are a number of additives you can put in the water to at least control the parasites.

Although an outdoor pond requires you to keep an eye on it a bit more than your indoor aquarium you will find that with just a little bit of extra work you can have a tropical fish setting that will please you for years to come - not to mention add that special touch to your outdoor landscaping.