First Winter With Pond

SeaAngel

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My pond is a small 150G garden pond on my patio under a patio cover. I live in Texas so we only get freezing weather usually at end of December through end of February and then only intermittently. My pond is only 18” deep. Is there anything I need to do to prepare for colder months? At what temp do you stop feeding your fish? I have one common, comet, and Shubunkin in my pond. Thanks in advance!
 
I stop feeding when it gets to about 10C. I keep the filter running but turn off the air pump and UV. Don't let it freeze over completely.
 
18" is pretty shallow, but unless you're up in the hills I'd think you'll be fine. Make sure you keep up the filter/aeration, but with the cold water your goldies will need less oxygen anyway. Make sure your pond is clean and as free of decaying plants as possible.
 
I had goldfish in my 120 gallon pond for several years, and I never fed them at all during winter. There was an array of natural pond critters, dead leaves in the pond, etc. The pond froze over for days, that will not hurt provided it does not freeze solid, which is unlikely for you and never occurred for me.
 
I had goldfish in my 120 gallon pond for several years, and I never fed them at all during winter. There was an array of natural pond critters, dead leaves in the pond, etc. The pond froze over for days, that will not hurt provided it does not freeze solid, which is unlikely for you and never occurred for me.

That is true my girlfriend is a horsewoman with big horse troughs she keeps goldfish in them she does not feed them hardly at all and they grow quite large they freeze in the winter but not completely because the horses keep them from completely freezing she takes a small heater out if it does freeze more than it should she has been doing it for 20+ yrs very seldom losses a fish to the cold mostly they just get to big for the trough


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You can get pond de-icers at stores like Country Max. I have seen them in the pond supply section. I don't know if they get hot enough to burn any fish that may bump into them, or just warm enough to prevent freezing.
 
The pond de-icers are set to turn off when temp rises to 40F. That means it has to below 39F for them to turn on. They only heat a small area around them but the fish can get a little warmer by snuggling around it. Most have covers to keep from burning the fish. My hubbie bought 1/2” thick insulation board for mine and cut it the shape of the pound. If temp goes below 50F I slide the cover over. It keeps it about 10-15 degrees warmer than outside temp. I have a small opening around back side so toxins can escape. The few really cold days in a row that we’ve had, I just slide the cover off a little and leave most of the pond covered. If the sun comes out, I remove it for solar heat.
 
If you have a clear or black cover on the pond, it will magnify the sun's rays and warm the water faster than removing the cover. However, you should be careful not to raise the temperature too much if the weather is still cold because fluctuating temperatures are not good for the fish.
 
That would be nice but no, the insulation board does not allow light to penetrate.
 
You can use a sheet of clear plastic. We used bubblewrap on the ponds in winter and had about 90% of the surface covered. There was a noticeable temperature difference between the top 6 inches of water and the bottom of the pond.
 
We wanted to use he bubble wrap that they use on hot tubs but couldn’t find it in time. My pond only gets about 2 hours of morning sun because it’s under a patio cover. Great for summer but not as good in winter.
 

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