Fish Surviving the Winter

How are your pond fish doing during this frigid winter? We are getting a few days of above freezing temps so I will be happy to get a good look at them when the ice on top of the pond melts. So far I don't see anything floating under the ice so I think they're OK. I heard on the news that temperatures are expected to plunge again in Feb.

I don't know.  I always wonder what to do in the fall when it gets cold then warms up a little again.  Do I feed them knowing it will get cold again?  I usually don't and once it gets cold here it stays cold until spring.  I keep a thermometer in the pond and wait until the temps are pretty constant.

Well the ice finally melted off the top of the pond and I can see that everyone is well and swimming around although the pond is surprisingly green even with these cold temps.  We went into fall and winter crystal clear.  Oh well, it greens up for a while every spring anyway plus this spring I really need to drain it and do a re-build due to the edges failing because of erosion my yard is on a slope.

The filter basket was filled with algea this morning. The waterfall stopped, had to bring the basket into the house and cleaned it in the tub. (yuck) got it clean and got the falls working again. gotta clean the tub now though. maybe it's a good day to wash the dogs if i have to clean the tub anyway....

Feel like Spring?  I'm moving by you.

It is 19 degrees here, but at least it's sunny.  Supposed to be in the high 30's by the end of the week.  Can't wait.  It had been another cold winter like last, but we are not getting big snowfalls like we did last year.

Fish seem fine from what I can see through the ice.  Pond thawed a couple of weeks ago and no casualities and it should thaw again by next weekend so I can check them again.

Did you waterfall freeze Mrs. Peepers?  Is that why it stopped?  I don't have falls.  Your's sure are nice.

It has been in the teens here most of the week. Warmed up to 24 today and we have snow on the ground again. Spring feels a long ways off.
I did find some daffodils had broke through the ground last week during our
"heat wave" when temps got above freezing. The waterfall has a low water switch in the skimmer, so if the level drops too low the pump shuts down like when leaves or algae clog it up.
We have been hearing the cardinals singing and the feed store has got their seed starting supplies out and on display. The fish appear to have survived so far this winter and hopefully the anacharis has made it through too.
I see quite a bit of leaves at the bottom of the pond but it's still WAY too cold and frozen to get in there and remove them.

It's still pretty frozen here. But we built tanks in our basement a few years ago and bring all our fish in for the winter. We don't have a deep enough koi pond yet for keeping large koi outside for the winter. We did "rehome" several of our koi last fall, and hopefully the people that have them aren't having trouble. So far they haven't said anything, but it's been fairly "mild" when it comes to snow here this year. Temps have been cold, but steady cold not extremes. The ponds they went to live in are both over 4' deep, so they should be fine. The koi we have left are in a tank in the basement.

Then we have several other tanks and aquariums with a LOT of fancy goldies. We've had a couple of huge spawns this winter and have about 100 ryukin juveniles and about 300 Oranda fry at present. They aren't generally as winter hardy as common goldfish, so I suppose we'll always be bring them inside, even if we do get a pond upgrade where the koi we have can stay out.

Lari wrote:It's still pretty frozen here. But we built tanks in our basement a few years ago and bring all our fish in for the winter. We don't have a deep enough koi pond yet for keeping large koi outside for the winter. We did "rehome" several of our koi last fall, and hopefully the people that have them aren't having trouble. So far they haven't said anything, but it's been fairly "mild" when it comes to snow here this year. Temps have been cold, but steady cold not extremes. The ponds they went to live in are both over 4' deep, so they should be fine. The koi we have left are in a tank in the basement.

Then we have several other tanks and aquariums with a LOT of fancy goldies. We've had a couple of huge spawns this winter and have about 100 ryukin juveniles and about 300 Oranda fry at present. They aren't generally as winter hardy as common goldfish, so I suppose we'll always be bring them inside, even if we do get a pond upgrade where the koi we have can stay out.

Oh my gosh! What do you do with all the goldies when they spawn? When I had a spawn I refused to give them to a pet store because they would only sell them as feeders and I always feel sorry for the feeder fish.

I gave my koi away last spring too because she was too large for my puddle. She was over a foot, I think. I found the lady on AP and she lived locally. They seemed very glad to get her and suprised to get such a beautiful, large koi. I too don't hear from her anymore so I hope my Opal is well. I hope they didn't sell her. I saw one about here size in a pond store for almost $300.00. I wanted to make sure that she was with someone who had a large pond with proper filtration, knew about keeping fish and maintaining water quality.