Okay guys this is wild. I have a 1000g Cichlid Pond in my front yard. I live in South Florida, so I only really need the heaters from December- sometimes March.. the rest of the time it’s in the 80s-90s and the fish are obviously fine. The winter nights can get surprisingly cold.. sometimes in the upper 30s but usually 40s, so this year I added a 3rd 500w heater instead of the 2 I had been using for the prior 3 years or so. With the heaters, it’s never gone below 70°.. and believe me lol I get up and check at 3 am. Sometimes if I have the energy I even dump gallons of hot hot water in there until it’s at least 72°.
So now to the crazy part. I had a protection net that was too small covering the pond (I have a full net now) so at one end there was a few feet of unprotected water. I wasn’t physically there but what makes sense is that my biggest, oldest, and dearest Blood Parrot named Goldie.. froze to death (in MAYBE water in the upper 60s
wth), floated like an ice cube, and was picked up by a crane (the reason I have the net.. they’re so annoying and obsessed with my fish!!). Anyway back to the story, so the crane must have picked her up (i’ve seen her lay eggs so I know she’s a girl), but couldn't fly with her because she is easily 5lbs.. and the crane dropped her in my yard on the cement on the side on the pond- but too far for her to have jumped out instead. She was also in a very small bit of blood. I was DEVASTATED. She’s my girl! She was quite literally frozen solid to the point that holding her was hurting my hands. That with the blood.. it was pretty clear she had passed. My favorite fish and most personable fish was gone 
. So I sadly I put her in a bag and quickly threw her away because we were rushing out that morning.. but then something inside said to take her out and put her in warm water. A dead fish. My mom was like “what the heck are you doing she’s obviously dead”. Lol kinda crazy but that’s what I had this urge to do. I got her out of the trash, cleaned her off, and put her in a large container of warm water. Miracle she still had her eyes and other than being dead, she looked alright. None of her fins broke off or anything. Now she was frozen solid so I had to keep changing the water because she would instantly chill the water like a giant ice cube. Finally I got the water to stay warm, I loosely put saran wrap on top, and left for an hour or so.
When I came home, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was right side up again, and I could see her fins moving just treading water. SHE WAS ALIVE!! Alive, alive… just like you and me. I put her in my community tank (her former home) instead of the pond because I wanted to be able to watch over her. I’m considering leaving her in the community because even though it’s probably too small for her, she LOVES human contact, is gentle with all the fish, and I even manually feed her because her mouth is more deformed than the standard. She looks like she got hit by a boxer, lol, but it’s part of her charm. Her little posse of Blood Parrots in the pond probably miss her, and no one new sleeps in her old spot yet, but idk, maybe one day. She was easily the queen of that pond. Anyway, for now, I am so in awe of her that I can’t imagine putting her back out there. Out of all the BPs i’ve kept over the years- she, by far, has the most personality.. akin to a super friendly yet totally insane dog.
My questions are… Firstly, why would the fattest, largest fish freeze first? Wouldn't the tetra or minnows out there freeze first? Secondly, how does this happen? how does a frozen solid fish come back to life? She honestly doesn’t seem phased in the slightest. I can’t find one thing wrong with her
She looks almost perfect, too. She’s still the sweet old crazy lady who attacks anything you put in her tank. Lol she’s funny.. she always accidentally jumps inside the big net when i’m cleaning. She’s a trip. Third, why would only my biggest fish freeze and literally no one else. It seems to defy all logic I was ever taught. Also, If she would have died for a different reason, then I doubt she would have come back to life after unfreezing. Lastly, since she froze, will she shed her skin kind of like a snake or will it just heal? It looks pretty good in the first place but I have no clue what to expect next! I use some Stress Coat and a daily dose of Melafix for her skin and fins to help healing. So many questions!!
What I truly think happened was that she got cold enough to go unconscious, floated down with the current to the unprotected end, got picked up by a smaller crane and was quickly dropped.. bc my girl is thicc. Lol. There’s just not possible was for her to truly freeze in water that is MAYBE 68° (it’s never that cold though). She sure felt frozen though!! She probably sat there on the cement for a few hours (we didn’t leave till 9am).. so if it’s 40° outside she’s going to get very cold very fast. The sun comes up around 6 which is when the cranes come to attempt to steal my fish
. So, realistically, she probably spent 3 hours on the cement in 40° weather. She still was dead though.. that’s the crazy part. She hadn’t had oxygen in hours. And she acts like her normal self. So crazy!!!
Here are some pics I just took of my little survivor who literally looked death in the eyes and laughed
So now to the crazy part. I had a protection net that was too small covering the pond (I have a full net now) so at one end there was a few feet of unprotected water. I wasn’t physically there but what makes sense is that my biggest, oldest, and dearest Blood Parrot named Goldie.. froze to death (in MAYBE water in the upper 60s
wth), floated like an ice cube, and was picked up by a crane (the reason I have the net.. they’re so annoying and obsessed with my fish!!). Anyway back to the story, so the crane must have picked her up (i’ve seen her lay eggs so I know she’s a girl), but couldn't fly with her because she is easily 5lbs.. and the crane dropped her in my yard on the cement on the side on the pond- but too far for her to have jumped out instead. She was also in a very small bit of blood. I was DEVASTATED. She’s my girl! She was quite literally frozen solid to the point that holding her was hurting my hands. That with the blood.. it was pretty clear she had passed. My favorite fish and most personable fish was gone . So I sadly I put her in a bag and quickly threw her away because we were rushing out that morning.. but then something inside said to take her out and put her in warm water. A dead fish. My mom was like “what the heck are you doing she’s obviously dead”. Lol kinda crazy but that’s what I had this urge to do. I got her out of the trash, cleaned her off, and put her in a large container of warm water. Miracle she still had her eyes and other than being dead, she looked alright. None of her fins broke off or anything. Now she was frozen solid so I had to keep changing the water because she would instantly chill the water like a giant ice cube. Finally I got the water to stay warm, I loosely put saran wrap on top, and left for an hour or so.When I came home, I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was right side up again, and I could see her fins moving just treading water. SHE WAS ALIVE!! Alive, alive… just like you and me. I put her in my community tank (her former home) instead of the pond because I wanted to be able to watch over her. I’m considering leaving her in the community because even though it’s probably too small for her, she LOVES human contact, is gentle with all the fish, and I even manually feed her because her mouth is more deformed than the standard. She looks like she got hit by a boxer, lol, but it’s part of her charm. Her little posse of Blood Parrots in the pond probably miss her, and no one new sleeps in her old spot yet, but idk, maybe one day. She was easily the queen of that pond. Anyway, for now, I am so in awe of her that I can’t imagine putting her back out there. Out of all the BPs i’ve kept over the years- she, by far, has the most personality.. akin to a super friendly yet totally insane dog.
My questions are… Firstly, why would the fattest, largest fish freeze first? Wouldn't the tetra or minnows out there freeze first? Secondly, how does this happen? how does a frozen solid fish come back to life? She honestly doesn’t seem phased in the slightest. I can’t find one thing wrong with her
She looks almost perfect, too. She’s still the sweet old crazy lady who attacks anything you put in her tank. Lol she’s funny.. she always accidentally jumps inside the big net when i’m cleaning. She’s a trip. Third, why would only my biggest fish freeze and literally no one else. It seems to defy all logic I was ever taught. Also, If she would have died for a different reason, then I doubt she would have come back to life after unfreezing. Lastly, since she froze, will she shed her skin kind of like a snake or will it just heal? It looks pretty good in the first place but I have no clue what to expect next! I use some Stress Coat and a daily dose of Melafix for her skin and fins to help healing. So many questions!!What I truly think happened was that she got cold enough to go unconscious, floated down with the current to the unprotected end, got picked up by a smaller crane and was quickly dropped.. bc my girl is thicc. Lol. There’s just not possible was for her to truly freeze in water that is MAYBE 68° (it’s never that cold though). She sure felt frozen though!! She probably sat there on the cement for a few hours (we didn’t leave till 9am).. so if it’s 40° outside she’s going to get very cold very fast. The sun comes up around 6 which is when the cranes come to attempt to steal my fish
. So, realistically, she probably spent 3 hours on the cement in 40° weather. She still was dead though.. that’s the crazy part. She hadn’t had oxygen in hours. And she acts like her normal self. So crazy!!! Here are some pics I just took of my little survivor who literally looked death in the eyes and laughed
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