Does my pond need a heater?

[CBloom]

View attachment 135700@CBloom

Thank you!

 

[CBloom]

@CBloom I want to laugh at your question, but not in a bad way. I joined here in 2011. After being around a while, everyone had me CONVINCED that I would have to go through the whole get-the-pond-ready-for-winter thing for my first winter. Problem is.....I live in Shreveport, NW LA (I laugh about that every winter!) No, you absolutely do not need a heater! But you may want to take the pleco and the catfish inside for the winter, and keep them in a heated tank. They are tropical fish and won’t tolerate low temps. The goldfish, however, are cold water fish.

And welcome to our group!

And for everyone else, here is a bit of Louisiana history: https://www.sugarkettles.com/

Thank you so much! Everyone's responses have really put my mind at ease. I was outside at 2:30 am the other night scooping water out of the kettle because it had been raining for hours and I was afraid the little guys would jump out. After a hurricane recently, I went out in the morning to check on the fish, and one of them was on the ground! I nearly had a heart attack. Luckily, he survived! But now I am very conscious of the water level during heavy storms.

Funny story - when we first set up the sugar kettle, I went to our local pet store and told the "fish guy" that I wanted some fish to put in it. I had picked out a few fish that cost about $30 each. This guy was like, "No, you're just starting out; here's a bag of 12 fish for $4. Let's start with this." I've had them for 8 months and they are awesome! I am really enjoying them. Thank you all for helping me to take care of them!

 

[poconojoe]

nothing is made to last anymore and it has been getting harder and harder to find American made things since China deal destroyed that .Gosh I bought 2x4's the other day and they were 6 dollars a piece ,I used to pay 1.88

Yeah, I too was shocked at the price of 2x4's. The prices doubled from last year. I think there's been a lot of price gouging going on from the pandemic. I understand how the pandemic can cause undue rises in supply prices, but some of the prices out there are ridiculous.
Has your homeowner's insurance gone up due to the price of lumber?

 

[poconojoe]

Thank you so much! Everyone's responses have really put my mind at ease. I was outside at 2:30 am the other night scooping water out of the kettle because it had been raining for hours and I was afraid the little guys would jump out. After a hurricane recently, I went out in the morning to check on the fish, and one of them was on the ground! I nearly had a heart attack. Luckily, he survived! But now I am very conscious of the water level during heavy storms.

Funny story - when we first set up the sugar kettle, I went to our local pet store and told the "fish guy" that I wanted some fish to put in it. I had picked out a few fish that cost about $30 each. This guy was like, "No, you're just starting out; here's a bag of 12 fish for $4. Let's start with this." I've had them for 8 months and they are awesome! I am really enjoying them. Thank you all for helping me to take care of them!

Maybe you can cover it with window screening so they can't hop out. You'll be able to sleep better!
If you're handy, you might make a wooden frame for the window screening for easy on/off. Staple the screening to the wood.

 

[CountryEscape]

Welcome to the group!
Most people refer to putting a “heater” in/on their pond in winter but it’s actually 99% of the time simply a “floating tank heater”, made to keep ice from completely covering a water tank for cattle/horses, etc. They work on a thermostat and only turn on when the water temp gets close to freezing. I always cringe when I see someone asking how to heat their pond, unless of course they live in southern FL. And, honestly, I wouldn’t want to heat my 9,000 gal pond even in FL! Another pointer with the floating heater, which will keep an opening in any ice that forms so gasses can escape, they typically take a LOT of power. I found using an aerator and turning a small pump on its side on a shelf shooting water toward the surface were much more economical, even though I was using two items instead of one.
I realize your son’s tropical fish died but the goldfish will be perfectly fine. They are in the carp family, just like koi. And I love my goldies! They can be so beautiful and even the solid orange ones are pretty when they have the long tails. Keep in mind, you will likely have a population explosion next summer, unless of course you got lucky and only got males or females.

 

[sissy]

I think only male fish is a laugh CE ,we could only wish for that .I think the only thing we can do is try to remove the eggs and hope it works .I ended up with 2 baby fish in my stocktank by my shed and nothing in it came from the pond ,only rain water from the shed roof .The stock tank is all the way on the other side of my house from the pond

 

[Phaewryn]

Funny story - when we first set up the sugar kettle, I went to our local pet store and told the "fish guy" that I wanted some fish to put in it. I had picked out a few fish that cost about $30 each. This guy was like, "No, you're just starting out; here's a bag of 12 fish for $4. Let's start with this." I've had them for 8 months and they are awesome! I am really enjoying them. Thank you all for helping me to take care of them!

That's a business you should always go back to. That was excellent advice. That store will probably always do you right. Reading up, it sounds like your son got a hard reality check on what tropical fishkeeping means: tropical fish are aquarium fish, not pond fish. They never really stood a chance in the pond. That same store that gave you that bag of starter pond fish probably would have taken the unwanted tropicals back too and rehomed them if you'd asked. I've returned many tropical fish to the aquarium store when they outgrew my tank.

Like everyone said, you don't need to heat your pond for goldfish in LA. But, if you want to put a heater in your pond just to get your son off your back, you could drop in a titanium aquarium heater (NOT a glass one!). It won't do much in an 800 gallon pond other than make your son feel better. It's gonna be on all the time, mind you, so the wattage is the wattage you'll be consuming 24/7. It won't do hardy any water heating (it will warm the water about 5-8" surrounding the heater, in my experience), but the fish can crowd around it if they want to and that should make your son feel better that they can do that and you'll have "put in a heater" (don't let it touch the sides/bottom of the liner, it can melt liners, secure it between a couple rocks). Mind you, he still can't be dumping tropicals in a pond and expecting them to survive winter. They are just going to die every fall unless you net them and bring them inside (I do this with my fancy guppies, I put them in the pond in the summer and bring them in when it gets cold). I run a 300 watt heater in my pond in Vermont all winter, it's really not a huge expense, it's just like leaving a couple floodlights on all the time, really, if you think about it. Just rig the plug up under something to keep it dry and be sure it's on a GFCI circuit since it's not rated for outdoor use. I've done it for 2 years now, no problems what-so-ever. I just do it to protect my pond liner from freezing/cracking because otherwise my pond would freeze solid up here (my pond is under 100 gallons though). I don't know how old your son is, but if he's innocent enough to think that tropicals can survive in a pond, then he probably innocent enough to believe that a 100 watt aquarium heater will work for your 800+ gallon pond and be happy that you "heated it".

 

[jfdeneve]

I recently moved into a new house in Dallas with a 2,000 gallon pond and lost quite a few fish last winter (first winter taking care of a pond). I’m not sure why I lost fish, but just to be safe this winter I put a 1,000 watt bucket heater in the pond to keep a warm area at the bottom of the pond. The heater is plugged into a smart switch that tunes on when the temp falls below 35. I also check my water quality every week.

 

[Bluerooster]

I have been mulling over the idea of heating my swimming pond. I think i can do it pretty cheaply for the cost of plumbing, and building a wood fired heater. (I have plenty of dead trees to last for years)

 

[Cathy Raphael]

Hello everyone! In April, I set up a sugar kettle pond and I put in 12 inexpensive feeder goldfish. Here we are 8 months later and they are all alive and thriving! But, the weather is turning colder. (I live in SE Louisiana.) My son also put in some of his fish from his tank, and they died recently during a cold snap. There were four tiny catfish and a pleco. He is very upset with me for not putting a heater in the pond. I have asked the "fish guy" at our local pet store, and he seemed "on the fence" as to whether or not I even need a heater. My SIL has a similar set up, and she said her goldfish do fine during the winter months. I'm pretty attached to my little fish and certainly don't want them to freeze their tails off. But, I'm sure it's not easy to heat a 450 gallon pond, either. I would love input from this group! Thanks in advance!

My pond is 21 yrs old - of course my original fish have long been eaten by herons or died. BUT....my goldfish THRIVE thru the winter. (I have no filter - but use plants and additives to keep things happy). I do have a great aerator. My fish have a lot of babies each year and in the spring I give about 20 away to people who need them for their ponds. I started with some pretty fantails & feeder goldfish - but it isn't a good idea financially to spend too much (like with koi) because of the threat of birds & raccoons getting in there. I keep a net on 99% of the time. I got some very pretty fish a couple of years ago (inexpensive) and they are making the whole pond very colorful with their babies.

 

[SmittyRW]

I have goldfish (from Walmart) and Koi that I have for over 18 years. I use a floating heater for a stock tank and an air pump in the winter. I have a fish thermometer, when it gets low on it, we pull the pump, add heater for the winter. We also add a bird neat over the pond. Your pond has to be deep enough so the fish can hibernate and nothing can get them. The $.25 gold fish from Walmart are about 12+ inches and the loi are 24+ inches long.