What I learned after 6 years with my fish pond is that they will stop eating on their own when they decide to. If there is an unusually cool day in summer they may not eat, but when it's been 2-3 days and they don't eat, I stop for the winter. We are down to 50 at night, and mine still come to the surface when I approach, and attack the floating pellets when I toss them in. usually they will eat through most of September before they stop. Mine do go without food all winter, and most of the spring, I only start feeding when they start to eat it, as late as mid-May. Below about 50F their metabolism slows, and food will not be properly digested. If they do get hungry they can munch on the algae on the walls of the pond.

Thank you both for the replies. I guess I will wait to slow and stop feeding them until next month when the temperatures drop further.

Things that are confusing to me are how quickly the water temperature drops at night for instance when temps drop to 50 or below, and/or how quickly the water temp rises as the day warms up. When I change them from one pond to the other I have to let the freshly filled pond sit for 24 hrs to reach the temperature of the pond they are in. I ordered a floating pond thermometer so I will be able to keep tabs on the water temps and how slowly or quickly it rises and falls.

I'm not sure what the temperatures in the basement will be this winter. I know it is above freezing always. My guess is that it is somewhere in the 60 -50 degrees (F) range. I guess the thermometer will tell all.

Thanks much for the replies. I like the idea of letting the fish tell me when it is too cold to feed them.

I switch to a simpler food that they can more easily digest in the later fall and earlier spring... Which for me is just plain old Cheerios (broken up). But as others mentioned... Once it gets cold enough the fish slow down and stop looking for food all together.

Thanks for this thread. I have just rebuilt my pond so that right now it is essentially a dead habitat, except for the fish. So we've been having to feed them. I needed this info going into winter.

Pagan

If it's goldfish, they won't eat when it gets cold, so don't worry about it. If they are eating now, make sure they get as much as they will consume in 5-10 minutes so they can fatten up. Mine are still eating as of yesterday, down to 42F this morning so it won't be much longer. Generally when the days are below about 50F mine stop eating.

I appreciate all the advice. It has been in the 60s and 50s here, and I'm feeding the goldfish less. If the water in the pool is in the 60's and it is early in the day I toss them a few flakes or a portion of a frozen food cube. On days when the temp is in the 50s, they do indeed seem to be uninterested in food.

Now that I am closer to bringing my fish indoors for the winter, I have a new worry, and that is "my" frogs. A few used to hang out in and around the pool, but now there seems to be a single small green frog left. Will this frog know enough to go off and find water with mud to hibernate under once I dismantle the pool?

Normally we have a brook about 50 feet from where the goldfish pool is, but because of the drought, it is dry. Should I capture and move my little green friend about an eighth of a mile down the road to a brook that still contains water, or is it better to let the frog find its own way?

We see those frogs all over the place, near water and not. Just let him loose and he'll find his way to new accommodations.