Oh, I hope your diligence pays off, I have a half barrel water lily container on my deck, and we had put in three goldfish to eat the mosquito larvae, they were a bit under ice for a few days, though I did break it and have a pump running; they are ok. It's not like your extreme temps, but I think those guys are pretty tough, as long as you can give them enough of an opening so they can get oxygen. They seem to get rather sluggish when it is cold and don't need as much oxygen, food or anything else.
Funny how one can get attached to them...

What a sense of adventure you all have! I, too, hope all those fish make it. Let us know in the spring, please.

And also let us know how big those fish have become. Do those county fair fish get to be big, golden carp? Or is that just an urban legend?

Andie, I believe goldfish ARE a type of carp.

Yes, they are carp - even the big expensive Koi, they are the aristocrats of the carp family.
My three little goldfish came from W-M and cost 40 cents each, were about an inch and a half long last June - they now are pretty fat and almost four inches long - not golden gold-fish, they have markings, each one is different.
Their job is to eat mosquito larvae in season, they do a good job.

We had very fancy fish in our pond, and they are less hardy it seems, and I've also had critters who stop by regularly to fish I believe. LOL. Most of the fish now are plain old goldfish, who have mated with the fancies and the progeny run the gamut from exotic, to plain and all stages in between. Our pond seldom freezes over because it is spring fed and at least that part next to the feed is thawed. One can buy a pond warmer to plug in and keep an airhole open. It's the lack of oxygen, as I see you already know.

We have a few in there now who are at least ten inches long. Yes, simple goldfish do get large. Note, these are considered exotic species. It won't be pertinent to you tibs, but if anybody else reads this it might be. If you have goldfish who are outgrowing their environment, you are not free to release them into the waterways. It's a no-no. Our run-off from the pond is therefore screened to prevent any possibility of this happening in our pond.

The Fish and Game Department had to inspect our pond when we first had it dug, and they make certain that nothing gets out - such as channel cat fish, because of the steelhead/salmon environment.
Steelhead are actually mature rainbow trout, I found this very interesting when I learned that.
We do have catfish in the pond, they were sterilized before getting released - I don't know how come we have quite a few small ones, maybe they hatchery didn't do so good on the sterilization?
The little goldfish are living in a half-barrel and can stay there for a long time before we need to be concerned about them getting away.
Not that we have abundant salmon any more :(

oh my gosh,what do I do whem Goldie and Sweetie Pie out grow the pond? It is only a 100 gal. buried rubbermaid horse trough. Is it true what they say that thy stay small to fit the size of their envirnoment? I can't cut dwn on the feeding, the boys come over every day to feed them in the summer. I was hoping we could let them go into the Park pond when they got big. This has no outlet to any stream, it is a storm water retention pond. I better check with the Parks and Recreation office.

That might be a good idea, to line up possible adoptive sights before the need presents itself. The big issue is that most large ponds have overflow systems to prevent flooding in heavy rains. Ponds would have to have a fail-safe method to prevent exotic species from going out with the overflow because they would and could eventually find their way to rivers and streams. We have placed some babies in adoptive homes but only after assurances it was an ecologically responsible answer.

Tibs, I had a buried Rubbermaid pond at my previous home, mainly because I wanted to grow aquatic plants, started with a handful of 69-cents goldfish from pet store. They did grow and breed that first year...but most babies were eaten either by them or other critters. I eventually had some that got 4-5 inches long..fun to watch different colors develop. I'd swap the largest few each year to the pet shop (who sold them easily to those with larger ponds) for food for my parrot...LOL

I too have read that fish adapt growth to size of container...but perhaps that's without supplemental food. (I fed mine once a week or so or if young visitors were there...never in winter..yet still they grew!). You might want to buy booklet on goldfish for your nephews...then let them decide about (over?)feeding vs keeping fish healthier for a longer time. Just sitting by the pond dragging a grass blade slowly in the water will bring the fish up to investigate if the boys just enjoy seeing the fish...maybe feeding just twice a week. Aren't ponds and fish fun...even trekking out with hot water to be sure they're comfy? josh

Tibs, i have a 3,000 gallon pond in my garden with both GF and koi. Our temps this week have been below zero.

Keep an air exchange hole open by adding an airator/air pump. Drop the airstone in the water only a few inches, not to the bottom. The bubbling water should help keep the ice open.

GF are tough buggers, but if all else fail, buy new fish this spring at Wally World.

Thanks for all the advice. I do have a friend who has a large pond in the country that would probably take them. She has bunches of gold fish and it is screened to keep the little buggers in. And she has alpacas and ducks and chickens and I see a road trip this summer with the boys to take the fair fish to their new, bigger home.