This is my first winter with my pond and I brought everyone in along with alot of my outdoor plants.
Hi from Montana!
- Thread starter mtpond
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This is also my first winter with my pond. I brought my plants in but left my fish in the pond. Thats why I'm so nervous about this winter. Can't see the fish any more due to the ice and snow. It snowed all day yesterday and all night. The fine stuff. We had about 2 inches before it started snowing and now we have 7 1/2 inches and its still snowing. I live out in the country and up the side of a mountain. We get more snow then in the valley and it stays longer.
How deep is your pond? And do you have a heater in it on top to at least make a whole in the water? From all that I've gathered on this forum if your pond is at least 3 ft deep or deeper they should be alright and having a heater at the top floating will allow for gases to escape the pond/air into it. My pond is only 18 inches deep so I just brought my fish in and put them into a tub on the porch (I dont have a huge tub but only have 5 gold fish about 5-7" long) I also have the aireator on them for oxygen. But for the winter we've been having here in Nebraska I could have left them out there until this past week for that matter as it's been unusually warm and we've only had two dustings and one 2-3 in snowfall this week for that matter.
Sissy, j.w. anybody somebody can probably tell you more than I about pond's and winter, but hope this helps!
Sissy, j.w. anybody somebody can probably tell you more than I about pond's and winter, but hope this helps!
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Last year mine froze over solid, but only had 4 fish in it, this year keeping a hole open using an aerator, no heater. Got lots more than 4 fish lol
My pond is about 3.5 inches deep. No heater, and like addy I also have an aerator keeping my pond open.
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lol I assume you mean 3 feet 5 inches..................... the aerator is doing a great job here so far.
j.w
I Love my Goldies
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Can't see my fish anymore either as pond is covered w/ ice but bubblers are keeping the holes open and one little aquarium air tube is bubbling up little bubbles which also keeps an open spot.
I have to confess I have a stock heater that I put in the bottom of my pond since I have such a good aerator I thought maybe it might help keep it a little warmer in the water. I have about a 6 inch koi that when I could see in the pond it was always laying around it. I also noticed that a smaller koi was sometimes there too.
Well it's pretty...but I dont know much about koi but think they like to stay warmer. Mine is covered with snow too but no water/fish/plants anymore...just some boards and a tarp to keep the yuck out for the winter.
taherrmann4
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Nice photo, that snow almost looks like you poured marshmallow fluff all over your pond.
The last couple of days it has been raining more then snowing, making the roads with snow pack extremely icy and slick. Looks like our extended forcast is going to be in the mid 40's by Sunday. The ice on my pond is almost all melted and I have seen 5 of my 6 fish. I have afew projects planned for my pond this spring. I think number one is landscaping around the pond. Spring can't come fast enough for me!
Oh my gosh just sitting here and looked out the window and a little doe walked out on a small piece of ice(about 4 ft. wide) and drank out of the pond. Really worried she would fall in but she didn't. After drinking she took off up the hill and about 10 mins. later here she is again. She went out on the ice again but this time she fell in. 
The temp is 22 degrees outside. She was close to the edge so she got right out but at least half of her got wet. The area where she fell in is where my fish usually are. Went out and checked and they are scattered around the pond, except for one and its kinda wedged in between a couple rocks. Guess I won't find out until later if its ok and I really hope it is cause its one of my favorite.
The temp is 22 degrees outside. She was close to the edge so she got right out but at least half of her got wet. The area where she fell in is where my fish usually are. Went out and checked and they are scattered around the pond, except for one and its kinda wedged in between a couple rocks. Guess I won't find out until later if its ok and I really hope it is cause its one of my favorite.
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I worried about my cats and dogs when I had ice on my pond, too! They would reach out there and get a drink where I had the bubbler. Sorry to hear about the little doe, but she will be fine. Your fish is likely just hanging between that rock, pretty unlikely that it got hurt, and I will sure hope all is well! Since I have no ice, I can see all my fish (haha, all 31 of them, shame on me!) and the koi seem to hang low when the water and air temps are cold, but as soon as the sun comes out and warms the higher water, they will come up to about halfway in depth. The goldfish on the other hand seem to mill about much more than the koi. Goldies will nibble on the sides and so forth.
Someone posted in another thread about the turning over of ponds, and one thing I remember is that a hard long winter with snow cover on large ponds (and I assume our koi/goldfish ponds would be included) made it much more dangerous for the fish. Obviously, the fish can stand the frozen ponds. It's the number that we sometimes have in the small areas that makes it more dangerous to not have an opening to let gases dissipate. But, the thing about the snow, it said that if snow could be removed safely, it should be so the sun can reach through the ice, and that helped with the turn over not being so drastic. Just a thought, but obviously not something to do unless ice was very thick and it was safe to remove the snow.
Someone posted in another thread about the turning over of ponds, and one thing I remember is that a hard long winter with snow cover on large ponds (and I assume our koi/goldfish ponds would be included) made it much more dangerous for the fish. Obviously, the fish can stand the frozen ponds. It's the number that we sometimes have in the small areas that makes it more dangerous to not have an opening to let gases dissipate. But, the thing about the snow, it said that if snow could be removed safely, it should be so the sun can reach through the ice, and that helped with the turn over not being so drastic. Just a thought, but obviously not something to do unless ice was very thick and it was safe to remove the snow.
sissy
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Thats why I keep a water trough for the deer because my deer where coming up and drinking frm the pond I put salt and even a deer attractent in the water to make sure they now that is for them .safer that way you don't want holes in your liner .In the summer here with the heat deer are even looking for more water .I got the troughs on the stands and they love it .I did spray foam the outside of the trough so the water would not freeze as fast but the salt in the water helps keep it from freezing also