Hey from snowbelt of Pennsylvania

[angelmandi]

Love the forum! Lots of great information- Enjoying posts very much.

To quickly introduce myself, I'm from the Northwestern part of PA, often called the snowbelts in these parts when the lake effect snow begins to fall. This is my first year with an official outdoor koi pond. I have had a few koi indoors in aquariums and outdoors in stock tanks for a couple of years, with mostly good successes. This is my first year with an outdoor koi pond, and I have finally 'hooked' my husband on the hobby. He loves the koi almost as much as I do. My indoor aquariums have been relegated to fancy guppies-- one of my favorite 'easy' fish. I'm an educator, and my students love the guppies because of all the babies that come during the school months. Makes for a very excited classroom.

I joined the forum in the hopes of finding out more information about moving fish indoors for the winter.

 

[Pondmaster]

Welcome angelmandi ! A Lot of members here move their Koi indoors so advice is forthcoming. I am making plans for bringing my fish in next year.

 

[CometKeith]

Hi angelmandi, welcome to the forum! Just wondering why you want to move them indoors. If your pond is at least 4-5 ft deep it should be no problem to keep them outside in the winter. I get up to 2 ft of snow on my little pond and the fish are fine. I just miss them a lot!

 

[addy1]

welcome anglemandi!

 

[DrDave]

Welcome to the forum. Deep ponds are ok in most cases for extreme cold.

 

[koiguy1969]

Welcome to the group!!

 

[j.w]

angelmandi

 

[angelmandi]

Well, in answer to the 'deepness' issue of the pond-- the pond is long, not necessarily deep. I think it's probably 3 1/2 feet deep. So, we are concerned that when we created the pond, it wasn't deep enough to overwinter them. Plus, we miss seeing them swimming around... :-( We would really like to bring them inside, if possible.

 

[j.w]

3&1/2 ft is about what I have here but then I live in Washington state on the west side of the mountains and we don't get as cold as you do for long periods of time. Gee it's horrible to think that your pond would freeze solid that deep. I think others here use de-icers or bubblers to keep the ice open to allow gases to escape while others do bring their fish in. Guess you will have to wait for a better answer from someone who knows your area's pond requirements better that little ole me :bowdown:

 

[DrDave]

In ground ponds do better than above ground when it comes to ice depth. The earth denisty helps to keep the temperature above freezing at the lower levels.

I remember when the original Minnesota Stadium was built some 30+ years ago and had been excavated quite deep. The stat I remember them saying was the ground at that level was a constant 55 degrees. I think they planned on using that geo thermal energy to help heat it.

 

[DrCase]

You might think about making a dome type cover for the pond next winter .. and just bring the fry in during the winter for your viewing pleasure

 

[digginponds]

Welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JustJack]

Welcome, angelmandi. I'm new here too and even though I live in Florida, my pond sounds about like yours and it did freeze last year. Only about an inch on the surface but I had a waterfall running to keep the water moving so they could breathe. I don't have to worry about freezing temps for a long period but the little waterfall was enough to keep a good sized patch of water free of ice after 2 weeks of hard freezes.

 

[angelmandi]

Thank you so much to everyone! Keep the suggestions coming. My husband and I did discuss the idea of building an A-frame over the pond using those corrugated plastic panels over top of it. I don't think the PVC domes that other forum users have would work for our area. Our winter winds can get quite substantial. Not to mention our snowfall amounts-- case in point: we had no snow 4 days ago, and now we have 3 feet. Also, using one with more solid sides, we thought, could also be used it in the spring around the sides of the pond, for a little greenhouse to begin our vegetable seedlings as well.

However, my husband has been unemployed for a while now, so money has gotten tighter than expected. We figure that bringing them inside will end up being more cost effective over the course of the winter, rather than using the electric de-icer all the time. The biggest concern of course, is the moving of the fish. I know that we need to make sure that the temp of the water in the basement isn't more than a 10 degree difference than the 35-40 degree water outside. And I'm going to move the outside filters inside to help with the transfer of bacteria. I just hope that catching and moving them when the water is so cold, doesn't stress them out in any way. That's my main concern-- making sure my beautiful babies come inside healthy and strong.

 

[koiguy1969]

I Catch and transfer my fish to the BASEMENT POND when the water temps are in the LOW 50*s.... theyve faired well every year. the lower temps slow them down, making it far easier to catch them. i also pump in the water from the outdoor pond so they go right back in the same water. thereby eliminating the need to acclimate the fish to temps and/or chemistry makeup. i also move filter medias between filters so theres no real lapse in bacterial activity, but i havent moved them in lower than 50*f water temps so i cant make an educated statement.and i dont care to give speculation.