cold weather people (winter planning)

[latazyo]

for cold weather people, I am wondering what you all do with your fish in the winter when the deep freeze comes in

we've only got a 90g pond kit and it is obviously too shallow to not freeze through....I am guessing that I will have to drain and cover it and move the fish

is it normal to move the fish indoors during the winter months?

what about plant life, is it perrenial?

 

[Erika]

We have a 400g pond in SW Ohio. It is about 18" deep and it froze nearly solid last year. I don't know about the plant life, but our goldfish survived. We ran 2 airstones and a heater through the winter to keep just enough water movement and oxygenation so the pond didn't freeze completely solid. If you do leave your fish in the pond through cold weather, make sure you read the temperature feeding guide on the package. We use TetraPond floating food sticks and the can says don't feed when the temp is under 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
HTH

 

[latazyo]

haha...we're talking like 4-5 months of no temps ABOVE 10

 

[Erika]

Sorry, didn't realize you were in ND. You might want to start a tank inside for the fish if you don't have one already. A friend of mine swears by using pond water to start the tank since it is what the fish are currently in, but other people swear by fresh water.
What you could do is set up an indoor tank while you could still get the temperatures pretty close to what they're in now and bring everything you can in for the winter and then take it back outside when it warms back up. I'm not real sure about the plants, though.