frozen fish?!?

[attiladahun]

this guy I know (an avid pond and aquarium goldfish keeper) says that goldfish can suvive being frozen in ice. i think he has credibility by all the stories about what he has done with his fish, but I think this sounds outrageous. he says that if you take an empty milk carton, scoop some aquarium water into it, then put your fish into it and put the whole thing in the freezer, you can go on vacation without worrying about the fish, and the fish goes into hibernation. then, you come home, peel off the carton and put the fish ice cube back into your aquarium, the fish will thaw, and he'll be alright (they are cold-blooded he says).

before i try this on any of my fishies, I would like to hear some personal testimonies and opinions on this subject.

thnx

[Watcher74]

That's ludicrous.

[reiverix]

Either he's pulling your leg or he's mastered the technique of goldfish cryogenics.

[kevinfishboy]

well it is true that u can freeze a goldfish and then thaw him out and he will be alive but i would not try it cause its just mean and cruel

[rich311k]

gold fish winter in a pond under the ice not in the ice. if they freeze solid they die.

[Kasakato]

Ponds are deep enought so fish can live in the water under the ice. This is how people ice fish.

[sublime1184]

Why would you try this anyway? its cruel and mean and harmful to fish....that story is so retarded. If you did this and your fish died, then what? Then there is no point to this whole crazy idea. The have things called "automatic feeders" for vacations, also "friends" is a kinda new idea where you have your "friend" come over and feed you fish. :rolleyes:

[Leopardess]

Ridiculous.

And if you think it sounds outrageous, why would you even be tempted to try it on your fish for no reason at all?

[Raskolnikov]

Though some amphibians can be frozen for periods and survive, I don't know of any fish that can do the same.

[judgemax]

a pond for a gold fish to survive needs to be atleast 18" deep so that it is below freezing ground level..depending on the area of the continents you are in obviously a pond in souther florida need not be that deep and one in ottawa should be deeper ...but i agree with everyone else here it might not be impossible but it is cruel and stupid ...why would you want to freeze your fish? they can go for up to a week or more without food at all...just over feed them before you leave

[Oddball~]

A pond that is at least a foot deep will NOT totally freeze (or at least shouldn't)...

At the bottom of the pond will be unfrozen water, around 37 degrees farenheit.

[zazz]

A pond that is at least a foot deep will NOT totally freeze (or at least shouldn't)...

At the bottom of the pond will be unfrozen water, around 37 degrees farenheit.
here do you getthis idea?

[judgemax]

i get mine from maintaining my dads pond and doing research ! 18" is what is generally quoted

[Raskolnikov]

here do you getthis idea?


If he's refering to the unfrozen water below, it's all thanks to the molecular marvel that is water. Rather than being more dense as a solid than a liquid (as are most substances), water is most dense at ~4 degrees celcius. Therefore when a body of water begins to freeze, the coldest (solid) water will form at the surface floating on the denser liquid water below. The liquid water at the bottom of the body of water will be about 4 degrees celsius, or 39.5 degrees fahrenheit.

[ashdavid]

Freeze tolerance is a complex adaptation that wood frogs can survive being frozen, they have a cryoprotectant glucose that helps it retain water,they also have proteins in their cells to help withstand the freezing process. But when the frog freezes it is only the outside spaces around the cells ,never inside the cells. If cell were to freeze the frog would die due to cell trauma caused by the the jagged crystals formed in the freezing process.The minimun point of no return temperature is about -25 to -23 degrees fahrenheit, putting them in your freezer at home will kill them. So your gold fish freezing friend is pulling your leg or you have misunderstood what he was saying. :)

[OrionGirl]

How deep water must be varies dramatically with your location. 18 inches in Wyoming wouldn't cut it, I promise. However, it is really better to keep an area of the surface completely ice free to allow oxygen exchange, otherwise the fish may burn through the oxygen in the water and suffocate.

As for freezing them--best test: if it sounds ridiculous, it probably is. Yes, some fish can tolerate much cooler temps without harm, but tropical fish are certainly not on that list, and there is a limit to the tolerance of even cold water fish.

[johnnyxxl]

up north some of your small shiners can survive being incased in ice. I have seen this first hand not by attempting it but by seeing it happen in the wild. I would not recomend doing it or even trying it its mean and not something I would say is easily reproducible.

[mooman]

sounds like bs, but it's true. Goldfish can survive incased in ice. I've seen goldfish frozen at the bottom of a pond, and seen the same goldfish thawed out the next spring. Not exactly an ideal hubandry technique, but it can happen.

[zazz]

If he's refering to the unfrozen water below, it's all thanks to the molecular marvel that is water. Rather than being more dense as a solid than a liquid (as are most substances), water is most dense at ~4 degrees celcius. Therefore when a body of water begins to freeze, the coldest (solid) water will form at the surface floating on the denser liquid water below. The liquid water at the bottom of the body of water will be about 4 degrees celsius, or 39.5 degrees fahrenheit.
Actually, I knew that,(although not the actual temp of the 'thick water') Thank you though.
I was mostly referring to this:
A pond that is at least a foot deep will NOT totally freeze I have also seen 18 inches quoted as minimunm for goldfish ponds, judgemax, but I am very nearly certain that in Vermont, I have seen water freeze Much deeper than this.heck, the ground freezes several feet down...

[Watcher74]

Fine. I'm buying some feeder goldfish and freezing them. I will post the results on this post. :p:

[TKOS]

As was mentioned, unless a creature has some sort of protection for the inside of its cells, the freezing process (especially a slow one like a house hold freezer), will cause irrepairable damage to the creatures cells and thus kill it. I use freezing to euthanize my fish and they never come back to life when they are defrosted.

There is a reason that you have to use supercold liquids like liquid nitrogen for doing cryogenics. It is to avoid the creation of sharp crystals in the cells. Being air cooled will not cut it.

[tlaug]

I want to try this with my wife's cat. I think I will start eating the ice cream and then clean out the rest of the freezer. How much space do you think I will need its a big cat? How much water? :joke:

[abby]

we watched a video in enviromental science today about a kind of toad and a kind of scorpion that can freeze and then unfreeze and be just fine. so if you feel like freezing an animal, get an alpine scorpion.

[ashdavid]

See my post earlier. :)

[zazz]

My neighbor's beloved iguana just died. Do you think if we freeze it REaLLY fast.....?

[asd159263]

one of my neighbors has one of those old half wiskey barels with goldfish init. In the winter is freezes to a solid block of ice, with they fish inside. It has been 3 years and he still has not changed his stock...

[mvigor]

:argue: B.S. Like others have said...in every case where the fish have "frozen solid and lived to swim again" there had to have been some liquid water at the bottom of the container/pond.