over wintering gold fish

[john Nordlund]

Hello im in minnesota have14 goldfish and trying to decide best option for this winter what to do with fish I have aa small pond 7' by 7' 18" deepest depth so not thinking i can keep fish in their even with aerator on.....should i bring in garage?? in large tubs? we have a unheated garage....

 

[MitchM]

How cold does it get in the garage?
Yes bring them inside, put them in a large tub, maybe about 200 gallons, with an established pressure filter running through the winter.

 

[john Nordlund]

How cold does it get in the garage?
Yes bring them inside, put them in a large tub, maybe about 200 gallons, with an established pressure filter running through the winter.

its a insulatted garage lot warmer than outside.. so i was thinking on having a couple large plastic storage bins ones that are 18" by 4.5 feet or so.
last winter we had in aquarium inside but fish were smaller... just have to figure how much food if any to give them and what type of aerator to use

 

[Faebinder]

I overwintered my goldfish in the pond when it was similar to your size and depth. I added a trough tank heater and kept the aerators running at the fall end of the pond. The falls kept running too.

It can be done but I would suggest a de-icer or a trough tank heater.

If the temperature in the garage goes down below 50 then don't bother feeding the fish, they shouldn't need to eat.

 

[Dave 54]

John this may help you overwinter your goldfish safely :-

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/art...e-long-slow-decline-in-temperature-begins.40/

I hope this helps you

Dave

 

[budgenator]

If it's 18 inches deep and that depth is below ground, they should over-winter in the pond Okay as long as you keep a heater going, a bubbler aerator on the bottom wouldn't hurt either for goldfish and is essential for koi.
I used a 1350 watt stock tank heater in mine and it keeps a 4 to 5 foot hole in the ice most of the time, when it's single digits the hole shrinks down to 2-3 foot range and I'm 11,000 gallons.

I've heard of people using a solar pool cover on their ponds too, but I have no experience with it, but some swear by it, in addition to heaters and bubblers.

 

[JBailey]

Is it surface freezing that is the biggest concern or the actual water temps? I have some Petco goldfish in an above ground trough pond and the water temps are a bit over 40F now, but we're forecast to get overnight temps near 20F next week. I have a 250w trough de-icer, but wondering if I need that to bring water temp up or just to prevent an ice blanket if it stays cold too long. Would it mess up the fishes' thermostat?

 

[MitchM]

Is it surface freezing that is the biggest concern or the actual water temps? I have some Petco goldfish in an above ground trough pond and the water temps are a bit over 40F now, but we're forecast to get overnight temps near 20F next week. I have a 250w trough de-icer, but wondering if I need that to bring water temp up or just to prevent an ice blanket if it stays cold too long. Would it mess up the fishes' thermostat?

Complete surface freezing is the biggest problem.
The water needs to have some gas exchange with the above ground air so the oxygen level in the pond does not drop to fatal levels.

.

 

[Lilguy]

I have a 100 and a 200 gal buried livestock trough that I keep heavily aerated and have a floating heater. I pull my large Koi and goldfish and put them in 100 gal tanks in the garage with water temp kept at 65 degrees. I leave a few smaller fish in the pond tanks. Going into my 4th winter now. I live in the Chicago suburbs.