This year for the first time I had some fish outside in a water garden,they are 12 of the most charming feeder goldfish you have ever seen. They did quite well and I want to keep them over winter but I am unsure how to. Should I buy an aquarium or just keep them in a wash tub, and how big of a space do they need? Also I would like to keep the plants that are in the garden, can I leave these in the tank as well? Just curious, Shelley.
Moving fish inside for winter
- Thread starter shelley is cool
- Start date
if you live in a rural area or anyplace that has farm-related stores, you should go and buy a large rubbermaid stock tank. don't buy a metal one. put it in the garage or basement and the fish and plants will overwinter in it just fine. i am not sure about the plants, but i think as long as the roots or bulbs don't freeze they will bloom again.
Shelley: If you have had them all summer, I am guessing your feeders are at least 3 or 4 inches long by now. That is going to take at least 50 gallons of space to hold them with some comfort. I have seen home made containers that amounted to a strong box shaped frame set up on a concrete floor with a piece of pond lining material draped over it to hold the water. Its not much of a display but it will hold a lot of water depending on how big you build it. If your pond filter is portable, you could use that to filter the temporary pond.
What state/country are you in and how deep is the pond? Is the pond in an above ground container or in the ground? Depending on how deep the pond water will freeze, you may be able to leave them in the pond. I'm pretty new to fish, so I can't really tell you exactly what to do and whether this would work for you, but try asking in the Coldwater and Indoor/Outdoor Ponds forums. There's a few things you may need to do first.
I live in Albuquerque, which can get down into the 10-degree F range in deep winter (plus a lot of snow last winter). My work place has a deep (~3 feet) pond made of concrete, like a small swimming pool. Our feeder goldfish and some mosquito-eating minnows (plus plants like cattails and water lillies) have overwintered in it for some 3 winters now. The first winter they survived in water only about 5" deep at most because the pool had not been cleaned out in decades (we got the set up when we moved in, in 2001). So I think that as long as the body of water does not freeze right down to the bottom, it may be okay to leave the fish in it. Our feeder fish are now ~5" long and look great. The only trouble they have had was during an algae bloom of some kind in April or May of this year. Three of the eight goldfish died... but a grackle (a crow-like bird) discovered and ate the bodies, so... the dead fish helped a cool bird survive. 
Extra plants helped clear up the algae problem and all has been well since.
Extra plants helped clear up the algae problem and all has been well since.