Paradise Fish In Pond

[MrNiceGuy]

Has anyone else tried this? I bought one and its been in a 120 gallon pond for about a year now. i didn't want to leave it in there over winter but it seemed to be enjoying itself and my only other option was to give it to a pet store. anyway, he apparently lived through the winter because I've seen him swimming around with the goldfish in the last couple days.

he shares the pond with 5 goldfish, 3 gold dojo loaches, and 12 rosy minnows.

 

[saltynay]

Paradise fish are able to withstand 5-6C for short periods if memory serves so if your pond severely freezes over e.g. you can stand on it then there may be an issue otherwise they will be fine. Strange it hasn't attacked your other fishes though normally highly territorial and aggressive fish.

 

[Joshwainwright]

He survived even after the terrible winter we've had?!

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Paradise fish are able to withstand 5-6C for short periods if memory serves so if your pond severely freezes over e.g. you can stand on it then there may be an issue otherwise they will be fine. Strange it hasn't attacked your other fishes though normally highly territorial and aggressive fish.

in the summer he would go after the goldfish sometimes during feeding. its a little bit of a nuisance but the gold fish are so much bigger than him that he can't really bully anyone. and the minnows are just too fast. i'll have to keep an eye on how it turns out.

He survived even after the terrible winter we've had?!

yeah, it surprised me too. i live in the northeast of the US and every fish in my little pond survived the brutal winter. I kept a heater in the pond with a tarp covering the surface. i also left the filter running all through the winter. i think the tarp really helped because the water was occasionally freezing until i covered it. after the tarp the water didn't freeze even once.

 

[saltynay]

I live in the semitropics my winter got down to 17C truly frigid

 

[Joshwainwright]

Oh, I'm from the UK so the weather here is extremely unpredictable.

 

[nurglespuss]

Well so long as your pond is deep enough (which I presume it is, because you still have fish in it after winter!) then the bottom of the pond should be no lower than 4'C throughout any freezing/very cold weather. This is beause water is at its most dense at this temperature, its how fish survive winter!

 

[MrNiceGuy]

Well so long as your pond is deep enough (which I presume it is, because you still have fish in it after winter!) then the bottom of the pond should be no lower than 4'C throughout any freezing/very cold weather. This is beause water is at its most dense at this temperature, its how fish survive winter!

oh no, my pond is actually very shallow. it was a design flaw on account of my ignorance at the time. i think its only about 11 inches deep. to keep the water from freezing i bought a heater and covered the pond with a tarp. it actually worked out very well.

some sad news though, the paradise fish that made it through the winter actually died a couple days ago.