Bringing in pond fish for the winter

[nooka]

I have a small pond in my garden that isn't deep enough to over winter fish in - I live in Canada and apparently they need at least three feet of water otherwise the pond freezes solid. My pond is about two and a half feet deep.

I have two shubunkins (I put in 10 in spring, but the others have all disappeared, probably eaten by something or other) they are about three-four inches long and generally we don't see them at all, they don't come for food and I think have survived by hiding. Anyway I fished them both out this weekend and have put them, in a big plastic box (it's something like 4ftx2ftx2ft) filled with some of their pond water and various plants that aren't quite hardy. I've put them in my cold store, but was wondering are they really going to be OK with no light for the next three months? I know they are supposed to pretty much hibernate, but I worry for them a bit!

[hohohEauRouge]

Ooh, which part of Canada are you in? My DH is Canadian and we're planning on moving back there in a few years.

How dark is it in your cold store? It would be nice to give them some light if it's really pitch black. Most importantly though, they do need a filter, otherwise they are likely to get ill. You didn't mention one in your post so apologies if they do have one. The container sounds plenty big enough for them to be in over the winter but you might need a bigger one next year!

If you were to dig a deeper pond then they would be able to overwinter in there (I would go 4-5 feet deep in Canada) and it would also give them more places to hide from predators (could be anything from next door's cat to bears depending on how rural you are)

HTH :)

[nooka]

To be honest it's most likely our own cats. We do get bears in the yard, but I've never seen them that close to the house so I think it's unlikely to have been them. We live in the interior BC and very much like it here - whereabouts is your dh form?

So why do the fish need a filter? They wouldn't have one if I left them outside - we have a small waterfall going in the summer, but it's really for decoration. I could put them in the garage instead where there is power to run the pump, but i think it might freeze in there.

I guess I'll see how they do and then aim to dig deeper next year - I'm not sure why the previous owners didn't dig it deeper in the first place as I know they had fish in there.

[hohohEauRouge]

DH is from Winnipeg, winters are pretty cold there but I don't think that's where we'll be moving to. We were thinking of somewhere near Ottawa maybe. I've never been out to BC, I think DH has some cousins out there so maybe one day.

A filter acts as a sort of mini sewage works. Fish produce ammonia as they breathe out and as they defecate, but ammonia is highly poisonous if it's concentrated in a small body of water like an aquarium (or an overstocked pond- large ponds with a low number of fish can cope OK).

There are types of bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrIte (which is also harmful) and then nitrIte into nitrAte which is harmless in small quantities. NitrAte is only removed by doing a water change.

If there is not a sufficient colony of bacteria present (large ponds, rivers, lakes etc will have enough to cope with a certain number of fish) then a filter is needed. The bacteria colonise the sponge in the filter and then you do a water change to keep down the nitrAte level. To survive, the bacteria need a source of food (ammonia from the fish), water and oxygen which they get from flowing water so the filter needs to be switched on all the time.

Hope that all makes sense!

[nooka]

Round here Winnipeg is known as Winterpeg - it get seriously colder and for much longer than here. I've been to Ottawa once and thought it very pretty (it was in February though and very very cold!).

Thanks for the info about the bacteria, that does make sense.