Ice on pond

[horselady]

Hi there. First wintrer in new garden with fish pond, past couple of days water has frozen over and we break the ice each morning. Should we put a ball or something in the pond to stop it completely freezing or is that a bit of an old wives tale. Are the fish OK under the ice? (not sure what the answer to that bit will be-I can hardly knit them cardigans)

[dundurn]

The fish are (relatively) fine - the bigger the pond , the better. They aren't swimming very fast at this time of year so don't use as much oxygen. There are nearly always odd gaps at the edge of the ice that allow a little bit of gas exchange, in any case.

Completely understand about the cardigans but you could always coat them. My mum used to use egg and breadcrumbs - or sometimes oatmeal! :-)

[horselady]

Thank you! Your comment is almost as bad as my husband's he just read this over my shoulder and said I should knit them TANK tops! (far too many comedians round here)

[carmalee]

don't I remember reading somewhere you shouldn't smash ice on fish ponds? something to do with shock.

[888sally888]

Melt a hole and then put a ball in it. The ball will keep moving and keep a hole in the ice.

Your right - dont smash the ice - it shocks the fish even if they have cardis and ear muffs!!

[davenclaire]

as a gardener Ive never broken the ice on a pond, this is due to reverse freezing temperature, the water on the pond surface is frozen and the water underneath is not (about 1-2o c), to break the surface will make the thawed water freeze and the fish will die,
another thing to think of is the depth of the pond, to protect the fish it should be about 3-4 foot deep to protect delicate fish in the winter

[horselady]

Oh dear, I hope we haven't already done any damage. Thank you all for your advice.

[chedd]

hi. i have never brocken the ice on a pond, fish dont feed at this time of the year, and are always quite dorment, oxygen is also trapped under the ice. if you break the ice, the initial shock could kill your fish. during the late seventies, my pond was frozen all winter, for peace of mind, what i did, was take out some ice from the edge of the pond, and blew air through a pipe, then the oxygen is trapped under the ice, i never lost any fish at all. try it you should"nt loose any fish, if the pond stays frozen for days or even weeks, leave the pipe in the pond during cold weather, and the ice will freeze around the pipe, still leaving you access to blow more oxygen under the ice.

[jg96]

I asked the same question last winter having moved into a house with a pond and inheriting five goldfish from the previous owners. I was told to leave well alone and not break the ice or bother about feeding them.One year on the original five are twice the size and we have around a further 8-10. Yes they were busy in the summer making babies!!!!

[twinny-15]

Some years ago I visited a lady who had an old bath sat on her garden with several gold fish. I could see them on the bottom,they appeared frozen a week later after a thaw I saw them swimming happily I was amazed she just let nature take its course. twinny

[Sylvsmum]

I've always understood that you should keep a hole in the ice, something about getting air to the water. This winter I didn't bother and it's been ice and snow for ages. A friend then said you need to keep an air hole open to let the gas from the rotting vegetation escape. The consequence is that I have one dead fish! So, who knows!!!

[whiskylady]

This year I have had almost 70 dead fish. My pond (about 3m x3m and 4ft deepest) was frozen about 7inches thick since before Christmas and I still have a big circle of ice in the middle. As it gets smaller more dead fish appear. I kept open three big 'air holes' and could smell the rotting vegetation so thought I was doing the right thing getting oxygen in. I still have quite a lot of smaqller fish swiming about and getting more active. I started with 4 wee fish and they went a bit mad...too many I think, so natural selection kicked in probably. I try and give away as many as I can.