Originally posted by cd.thomson
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
will they be quite happy with out coming up for air etc?
built a big pond during the summer, so this is the first winter with fish in there.
water's frozen over on the pond (but stangely not any random buckets of water or anything)
is there anything i need to do to make sure the fish are ok in there? will they be quite happy with out coming up for air etc? how do i feed them?
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
will they be quite happy with out coming up for air etc?
quote:
Originally posted by cd.thomson
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
will they be quite happy with out coming up for air etc?
not an expert, but my neighbor has a small fountain (more of a pump outlet, nothing pretty) and has it on in the winter to keep a bit of movement on the surface which makes it less likesly to freeze up.
I've never had them myself mate, but I grew up with a guy who kept carp in a pond out the back.
He was never fussed about a bit of ice, and generally theyll last okay for a little while without food, especially if theres plant life in there
too.
your pond is obviously new, if its barren too then just cracked the ice in an accessible place and feed them through there.
I wouldnt let the ice stay in place for too long though, could you install a small pump to circulate the upper layers of water?
Wee into the pond whenever the "urge" arrises... Warm..er.. fluids will keep the ice at bay!
50:50 mix of pond water and anti-freeze
quote:
Originally posted by balidey
50:50 mix of pond water and anti-freeze
I had a pond with ducks and large fish. It use to freeze over so thick you could walk on it (obviously not recommended) and it made no difference to
the fish. As you say they don’t move all that much in the cold so don’t breath much oxegen out the water.
Leave them be and they’ll be fine or you could put a football in the water which will allow you to remove it during the day to leave some clear water
(an old Blue Peter trick that)
[Edited on 30/11/09 by Mr Whippy]
Serious suggestion here (there's a first).
If the pond does freeze over and you want to clear some ice away, don't smash it as you send shock waves through the water. And don't poor
boiling water onto the ice either. Instead get a round cake tin, or something similar, poor boiling water into that, sit that on the ice until its
melted through. You should be able to grab it before it disappears under the water. Then there is a break in the ice for you to add food (and to top
up the anti-freeze)
Throw the cat on top of the ice every so often, that should break it up?
stop it freezing by putting an old microwave oven connected to a mains timer switch.
make sure the door is closed as you don't want fish getting inside and being cooked.
a locost solution is to throw a gallon of petrol onto the ice followed by a lit match.
One trick is to float a ball on the surface - it can be pulled out occasionally to free a bit of clear water.
As for feeding - the general rule is not to feed them below 50F*, as they won't be interested and the food will just fall to the bottom and rot.
However, they may not have read that rule! In which case, if the water temp is below 50F*, drop a little food on the water and see if they're
interested - if not, don't give them any more.
I have 1 Koi and 2 Golden Orfe - all huge and over 10 years old (probably nearer 15) - and they've not been bothered by the pond icing over for a
few weeks.
I think they go into some form of hibernation when the water's really cold.
* Not 50C as I originally wrote!
[Edited on 30/11/09 by David Jenkins]
50c?! thats quite hot actually. or 5 degrees c?
i know what you mean about the sort of hibernation though, once the ice melts a bit, i don't think its that thick anyway, i'll but an old
tennis ball on it
also need to remember to try feeding them at some point.
you are best to feed them very little at all through the winter. because they are cold blooded, and dont eat/move as much when its really cold the
food will just rot in the fishes stomach. ours have been fine through ice, and winter. how to you think fish survive in countries where whole lakes
freeze over 
We have a pump and filter system on our pond, keeps a significant portion of the pond ice free in the winter.
We never feed our fish if the temperature falls below 10C, they are just not interested. Not lost a fish yet in 5 years (apart from early on before we
realised a Heron was visiting!)
quote:
Originally posted by Davey D
how to you think fish survive in countries where whole lakes freeze over
I leave my Pump, pond filter and waterfall on over winter and this keeps an area clear,
As I have covered the pond with security mesh (due to the very mobile 2 year old !) I will probably lay some bubble wrap on the mesh to insulate it a
little more this winter.
Re feeding I feed weatgern down to arround 10 deg 3 of them arnt bothered apart from a really greddy goldfish
Regards
Agriv8
quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
50c?! thats quite hot actually. or 5 degrees c?
i
Might seem silly, but, define 'big' pond, inc depth and how long you have had water in and fish in it. As all these factors can have a bearing.
As said, I wouldn't worry too much about feeding them once the weather gets cold but as your pond is fairly new it won't have too much
natural food in their yet so if it goes mild again maybe a bit of food, tiny bit though. As for ice, if it's only covered in the morning after a
frost and thaws out during the day, don't worry about it, if we have a cold snap that last a while and the ice stays all day, that's when
you need to do something. DON'T smash it with something heavy you'll stun the fish (or surprise them at the very least), a floating ball
works unless the ice gets too thick, a kettle of boiling water poured on one spot usually works. Just one thing if we do have a proper cold spell
don't leave it too long before you try to make a hole, you'd be amazed how difficult it is to melt a couple of inches of ice.
If balls and boiling water don't work I'm not 100% convinced about the microwave and anti freeze methods I would have thought putting a
couple of tons of salt in there would be better (obviously you'll have to restock with cod next year if you do that)
[Edited on 30/11/09 by norfolkluego]
One other thing, I see the comment about countries where the entire lake freezes over (for months on end in some cases), obviously that's true but the fish density in a garden pond will be miles higher than a natural lake and a great deal less deep, less oxygen available to the fish. If we have a proper winter it's best to keep a small area free of ice, doesn't need to be much bigger than a saucer, it's more to do with letting toxic gasses out than oxygen in.
quote:
Originally posted by balidey
50:50 mix of pond water and anti-freeze
Cunning plan ^^^^ . So how many cod do you have in your pond anyway???
To reiterate what others have said, DON'T smash any ice! I keep my pump running but also have a pond heater if it gets really bad - it IS
important to keep a hole in the ice in a pond in order to let poisonous gases out! Try floating some polystyrene packing on top (I had a weight tied
to it to stop it floating away!) which should keep a small area clear! Good luck!
(We never feed ours over winter either btw)
An aquarium bubbler will agitate the water enough to leave a small clear area, plus the bubbles will help purge the bag gases out of the water.
they seem quite happy swimming about under the ice. its still not melted, it looked like it had, so i put a few bits of special 'below 10
degrees' food and they just bounced across the top lol. but theres buckets of water outside for my 2 chickens to drink from, and they
haven't froze over. weird.
i'm going to make a bubble to plug in now and then to airate the water from time to time
We have a plastic duck floating on ours in winter and don't feed the fish when it is cold as they don't digest it. As long as your pond is deep enough for them to get below the thermocline the temperature stays pretty constant and they will be fine through winter. Don't break the ice as the concussion can cause damage to the fish.
i go fishing so heres my 10p worth ....... when the weathers cold fish don't tend to feed they go to the deepest bit of water and switch off thats when Mr Pike feeds easy pickings .... your fish will be fine
I know that 'I love speed :-P'...has a big pond......drop him a u2u if you are unsure ....
Fozzie