Hello Koi Keepers or Would Be Koi Keepers. I have an insulated,, above ground, 300 gallon galvanized steel trough in my back yard and keep Koi and Goldfish in it all year. The inside of the tank is coated, so the galvanization process can't leach zinc into the tank water and potentially poison the fish. For my money, Koi are the hardiest fish you can keep. They'll live in the warmest as well as near freezing water. I keep a trough heater, so the water never freezes. Here in Colorado, some evening temperatures during the winter can fall below zero. If you keep a trough heater going the fish will be fine. A heater will allow you to keep a bit shorter tank too. Mine is roughly two and a half feet deep. The water temperature in the dead of Winter never gets below 50 degrees and on sunny days, which most days are in Colorado, the fish are active and always very hungry. I back off on the feeding in the Winter months. I generally feed half what I feed in nicer weather. A back yard tank, once set up, doesn't take any more care than an inside aquarium. In fact, it takes less. My outdoor tank isn't filtered. It's heavily aerated and gets a large water change a couple of times weekly. Clean, treated tap water is the key to keeping any fish healthy. Go on, get yourself an outdoor tank and customize it to your liking. Then, go out and get some Goldfish or even Koi.
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