Time to come inside...

[HiggityHank]

Well, around here it freezes solid, and my little 90g "pond" is going to fall victim to this as well. All that's living in there is a pair of goldfish (feeders purchased at the store for $0.29 each), a pair of fantails (from a friend) and a frog (wild, got here on his own... apparently likes it)

The goldfish have grown from "large feeder" size to roughly 4-5". The fantails are still fairly small... about 2". And the frog is welcome in the house... but will probably stay outdoors.

The only thing I've got to house these guys is a 39g, with a pair of HOB filters (each rated for roughly 40 gallons) Will this be enough to keep my fishies happy till spring? (even if it's not... it's going to need to... hints appreciated)

 

[bribones]

some go by the rule of 20g for the first fish etc some go by the rule of 1g per 1" of fish so 40 gallons is 40"
your total length is less than 20" and as its just a short length measure id say yes thats fine add a air stone if possible and keep an eye on the chemicle levels but itl do em fine for a few month before going back into the pond

 

[HiggityHank]

Airstones will be no problem... I've got 2 or 3 pumps just kicking around waiting for something to do... (none of my tropical tanks run airstones anymore)

Which is basically how this setup came about... it's all spares

I figured I'd be alright, but sometimes you just want that little "You'll be fine" ya know?

Anybody got any tips on prepping my "pond" for winter?
My thoughts were to just pump it out, pull the equipment, clean out all the crap, cover it, and start again next year. This year we had such horrible luck with algae and such... I'd just assume start over.

 

[bribones]

Anybody got any tips on prepping my "pond

firstly is moulded or liner a small pond will freeze quicker than a large one and expansion might be a problem for cracks or splits

if only a 90gallon then id empty it and make sure no water is left before adding a cover
or you could chuck a heater in there and leave it be

i normaly do my maintainence in the spring ,only becouse the bloody waters freezin up here this time of year and i dont like getting wet and cold all in one go

the choice is yours really

 

[Cat]

Make it bigger and deeper next year then you can leave the fish in it.

 

[HiggityHank]

Just wanted to let everyone know, the fish have come in, and have been doing fine for almost a month now.

They seem quite happy in their 39g home. But I'm sure the big guys can't wait to get back outside.