Pond Question

[ucalldatatank]

Okay as we all know winter is here or coming and it's getting cold. :ast night was the first real cold night I would say. I'm worried about my pond, it's freezing cold. Are there any suggestions?

[bucs_hothead]

How big is your pond? Waterfall? Fountain(s)? What kind of fish are in it?

We have a 7.5 ft x 9.5 ft pond that's around 2.5 ft deep with various Koi and goldfish in it. A good flowing stream with waterall and a fountain. The only preps we go through for winter is to stop feeding the fish to start their hibernation. Then we remove the shallow water plants, generally we just buy new plants each year. We cut our lily pads down and put in the deepest part of the pond. We keep a couple of plecos in the pond through the summer but we take them out early in fall b/c they have to have much warmer water.

We haven't lost any fish yet and the lilypads come back every spring. The top few inches of our pond froze last year but the water continued moving under it so the fish were fine. That's when the pond was a mere 18 inches deep, so we don't expect any problems this year.

Make sure that you clean all of your filters now b/c you won't really want to put your hands in that ice cold water later in the winter and you don't want the water flow to get too low.

[ucalldatatank]

Well my pond is 170 gallons, mainly have some minnows, guppies, fan-taileds and one big pleco. I just discovered that my pleco has died. Sad, very sad. I have a lily that sita at the bottom of the pond. I think it will be okay.

[Seleya]

How deep is your pond? 170 gallons isn't very big. I realise you're in Houston, but I would be tempted to bring them inside for the winter. It isn't as cold as some places get, but your winters still can be cold enough and those fish are good for cool water but not cold water. Your lily should be good or you'll know next Spring if it's better to bring that in as well.

Our pond is about 42" or so at its deepest spot and the plants fare fine, we've overwintered fish in the pond successfully before and had spawns come Spring, but find it easier to bring the livestock inside. Last year we had an exceptionally intense winter up here and I doubt the fish would have survived. The pond is in a raised garden, and the ice was incredibly thick. I doubt the heater could have kept up.

Our fish are currently in a large vat in the basement with the pond filter w/ biofilter attachment and a huge sponge w/ a powerhead running in it. We keep an eye on temps and base their feeding schedule on that.

[ucalldatatank]

It might be about anywhere from 1'-6 to 2'. Yea its not big but it does okay. Yea I know I live in houston and not compared to up state but last year it snowed, since like 7 years. I dunno.

[calico_]

guppies, plecoes and fantail goldfish are no pondfish, they are aquarium fish. if you let them overwinter outdoors, no one of them will survive.

[Charlius]

Originally Posted by calico_

guppies, plecoes and fantail goldfish are no pondfish, they are aquarium fish. if you let them overwinter outdoors, no one of them will survive.

Definite ditto to that. I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing that was said. Is this your first winter pond experience??

[Seleya]

Originally Posted by Charlius

Definite ditto to that. I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing that was said. Is this your first winter pond experience??

They are SUMMER pond fish, even some Fall and Spring depending on conditions, which is what I pointed out. I don't know how severe winters are in that area of TX, but if it snows, they definitely don't belong outdoors. I just brought my own "pond fish" inside a couple of weeks ago. The koi and comets are in the big vat downstairs I mentioned before. The guppies, minnows, rosy barbs, bridgesii snails and mollies are in tanks in my bedroom (nothing like 6 tanks in your bedroom to beat the winter blahs! ) And, Mr Big, the pleco went to the NHAS auction.

I find the fish thrive outside and may try bringing out some other species next year. For anyone who has lamented the fragility of guppies these days, this is one way to encourage stronger constitutions either by the manner in which they live amongst *tons* of live plants and real food arriving daily on the wing or simple survival of the fittest.

[bucs_hothead]

When we bought our fantail and Koi 2 years ago they told me that all of the fish would go into a type of hybernation. I thought that they had lost their mind or were just trying to sell the fish, but I've been wrong before so I trusted them. Our fantail is now about 6" and going strong. I've read both sides of this story saying that it has to be above 60 and other saying they'll be fine as long the pond is deep enough.

Like I said, our variety of gold fish and koi have endured the winters here in Kansas without any problems, so far. The pond froze over multiple times but the water was still moving beneath the ice. We do take our Plecos out in early fall for their safety. I think a lot of the reason that they don't survive in all environments is because of the lack of vegetation for them to feed off of. For whatever reason, ours and many others have made it through the winters here.

EDITED TO ADD:
A lot of people may confuse Moors and Fantails b/c of their fancy tails. Moors are more sensitive to the change in temperatures than a fantail.

[Charlius]

Seleya: Are you telling me that a fantail goldfish belongs in a pond? I can understand the pleco, being added in the summer for algae control, but I really don't agree with a fantail being considered a pond fish. You don't really want to put fancies into an outside pond (at least that was the impression I was under).