Gold fish are very prolific. We started with 12 feeder fish, all died but 4. That spring we ended up with several hundred. The population has dropped back to about 70 to 80 with the oldest about 8 to 10".

To answer your question I have three pools in my pond of about 300, 600 and 700 gallons. The shallowest is about 14", middle about 16" and the deepest about 24". We have wintered the 70 to 80 fish in the two deepest pools and 4 to 5 in the shallowest pool several winters now. The pond freezes to about 5 to 6" thich. We have not lost any fish.

We do not circulate the pond nor do we put in any heaters.

You should do alright since the fishies will be dormant over winter. If you get really worried you can use a new garbage can filled almost to the top with a bubbler and a small pump with a large foam prefilter. Put it in the garage next to an interior wall until spring. Sandy

I am so happy to read these answers. My pond is deep, about 3.5 ft deep. I left the waterfall going all last winter and there was ALWAYS a hole in the water even in January and February. I have about 50 feeder goldfish I bought in May and some of them have grown to over 5 inches! I love my fishies and was really beginning to worry about them but seeing that Knuttle overwinter their fish is considerably less water I guess my babies will be OK.

I have a 3' deep, 160 gal pond. Two winters ago I kept the 2 adults (about 10" long) and from 30 to 45 babies over the winter with no loss. The were all happy and healthy come spring.

mondotomhead: I would love to keep my waterfall running all winter except the water freezes on the falls and, with the ice buildup, it flows over the sides of the stream. The waterfall has three drops and is about 6 ft long. How do you keep the water flowing (we're zone 4 here in NW Iowa).

Happy Ponding!!

My gold fish reproduce, but I only get a few that grow large enough to worry about each year. I guess the bigger fish and turtles eat many of the young.

I was lucky enough to find some new pond owners looking for feeder fish and thinned my school late last summer. You might want to place an ad for free fish on some store message boards.
I recently visited a nearby city park that had a man made pond. I was able to see many orange and white fish that must have been koi and gold fish. Some were probably 15 inches or longer. There were also some large red-eared slider turtles. I guess it was a dumping ground for unwanted aquatic pets. Unfortunately, that's how some people handle the situation. I felt sorry for them and hope they make it through the winter.

nbacres,

Here's a picture of the waterfall. It is rather steep and the water does freeze along the edges. During the very coldest part of winter ice did cover the waterfall but under the ice the water was still flowing and dropping in the pond enough to keep it open.

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Mondotomhead, I would watch out for winter ice dams in your stream. If one diverts the water flow, your pond can be emptied very quickly.

Thank John, I'll keep an eye on it. I think I'm living the life of beginner's luck........and I like it!

Jeannie

I have wanted to keep my pump and falls going too, the critters would love the water source in the winter but I have had this 600 gallon pond empty to just 4 or 5 inches of water overnight with just a leaf jam. No way I could haul 500+ gals of water by bucket once the hoses freeze.

Mondotomhead: GREAT LOOKING WATERFALLS? I love how you have the stone edging on the pond area, do they hang over or do you have the sides rocked also? I hate that some of my liner shows--your's looks awsome!

Happy Ponding.

nbacres,

Thanks! My DH did the rock work himself.

When we dug the pond we made a ledge all around about 8" out. All these rocks came out of the hole dug for the pond. My DH put the biggest rocks on this ledge in front of the waterfall and there are other rocks on the other parts of the ledge. Oh, and there is liner showing for sure just not in this picture.