Bottom feeders

[carpediem]

I live in Pennsylvania and it does get pretty cold here in the winter sometimes. Tonight it's about 27 degrees outside. Sometime this week the low temp is going to be in the teens. I didn't want to take the chance of letting the goldfish outside during the winter and then have them freeze to death. I'm sure you think I'm stupid for caring about my goldfish to get a bigger tank for them just so they can be brought inside for the winter andfor not trying to winter them over in the 80 gallon containter pond.

As someone already alluded to, you will need to float a heater on the surface. The danger in a frozen pond is two-fold. First and most obvious, if the pond freezes solid, the fish will most likely freeze solid also resulting in its rather unfortunate demise. Second, a pond that freezes over does not allow gases from rotting detritus (oooh, maybe I shouldn't use that word in this thread) to escape. The toxins, therefore, build up and poison the fish.

An alternative: place a pot of water on the stovetop and bring it to a boil. Carry the pot out to the pond and place it on the ice. Remove it when the pot has melted through, forming a hole. This will allow gases to escape. If it is a large pond with a lot of surface area, create 2, 3, 4 holes in the ice.

The thing you absolutely DO NOT want to do is add any kind of commotion to the pond. Waterfalls, powerheads, pumps etc. only serve to disturb the fish and encourage them to move about. This is a bad idea with the water temperature and metabolism so low. The best thing for the fish is to remain as still and dormant as possible until the water warms up in the spring.

Just my .02

 

[TetraBotia]

I'm sure you think I'm stupid for caring about my goldfish to get a bigger tank for them just so they can be brought inside for the winter andfor not trying to winter them over in the 80 gallon containter pond.

No not at all. That is why I said "I am guessing there is a personal affection here, which is understandable, but heightens concerns."

What I meant by "which is understandable, but heightens concerns" was not "we are concerned about you, Flower", but rather "your personal attachment heightens your concerns for you fish, which is understandable."

I was not very clear... sorry!

 

[Flower1982]

Carpediem,
I use a pump type filter for my pond so I don't think I'd be able to winter over my pond. Thanks for info though. I never thought of using a pot of hot water to defrost the ice though. I'll have to remember that.


TetraBotia,
It's ok. Although I should haven't gotten upset about that and should have jump to conclusions. So I'm sorry too.

 

[TetraBotia]

TetraBotia,
It's ok. Although I should haven't gotten upset about that and should have jump to conclusions. So I'm sorry too.

Oh no problem. Sometimes I come across kind of cold.

Written communication is an art in itself. Most of us are not equipped for the pitfalls... so I can sure understand why you thought I thought you were too attached to your fish.

I think we all get to decide how attached we will be to our pets, and your attachment is not anyone's business- unless you say, start willing your life's earnings to a guppy... then I would be concerned...

I hope you and all your friends make it through the winter well.

 

[carpediem]

Carpediem,
I use a pump type filter for my pond so I don't think I'd be able to winter over my pond. Thanks for info though. I never thought of using a pot of hot water to defrost the ice though. I'll have to remember that.


TetraBotia,
It's ok. Although I should haven't gotten upset about that and should have jump to conclusions. So I'm sorry too.

Not to be obtuse but just a suggestion... Bring your pump inside for the winter so it doesn't freeze and crack the housing. Store it in a bucket of water to keep all of the gaskets/seals wet.

 

[FISHSHROD]

Not to start a flame war or anything, but I have had the luck to see the amusing if somewhat disgusting display of my fish eating waste before it even, um, "separated" from another fish's body. I'm not making any claims here, and they don't do it often, but man, it is gross.

But on topic, I reccommend ghost shrimp. They coexist peacefully with my betta, I have somewhere between 10-15 in my 10g. They put a serious hurting on my brown algae(diatom?) problem and are amusing to watch.

Yup , my old saltwater fish used to suck up the stuff before it hit the bottom of the tank Eat it right out of the anus of the other fish. YUM YUM !!!!!!!!

 

[Flower1982]

Not to be obtuse but just a suggestion... Bring your pump inside for the winter so it doesn't freeze and crack the housing. Store it in a bucket of water to keep all of the gaskets/seals wet.

Carpediem,

The pump is inside. We put it in our shed for the winter. It's kind of like a homemade filter. We put it in shed for the winter before snd it's been fine before.

 

[Flower1982]

Oh no problem. Sometimes I come across kind of cold.

Written communication is an art in itself. Most of us are not equipped for the pitfalls... so I can sure understand why you thought I thought you were too attached to your fish.

I think we all get to decide how attached we will be to our pets, and your attachment is not anyone's business- unless you say, start willing your life's earnings to a guppy... then I would be concerned...

I hope you and all your friends make it through the winter well.

TetraBotia,
What kind of fish do you have?

 

[TetraBotia]

TetraBotia,
What kind of fish do you have?

The short answer-
Tetra's and Botia's...

The long answer- off the top of my head-


Pristellas
Emperors
1 Silver tip (holdover from a dieing school- not interested in them)
Neons
Marble Hatchets
Raspbora's
Clown Loaches
Kühli Loaches
(other) Loaches- like long nosed/horse faced, other dark brown loaches akin to Kühli's
Amano Shrimp
Bamboo Shrimp
Pygmy Frogs
Trumpet Snails
Commond pond Snails
Ramshorn (ONE)
Chocolate Dwarf Gouramis
Hillstream Loaches
High Fin White Skirt- (or is it High skirt white fin??? hehehe)
Pygmy Cory's
Another very small cory (two of them) that is new to me and I still need my LFS to help me identify.
One True SAE (Crossocheilus Siamensis, off the top of my head- so might be mispelled.)

Many plants, but not of wide variety... very good lghting.

The tank is amazingly low maintenance.

 

[Flower1982]

TetraBotia,

You have a lot of fish. You must have either a big fish tank or many fish tanks. Right now I've got 2 but I do have an exrta 10 gallon tank I could set up but I wouldn't know where to put it.