Hello Carol,
Welcome to rec.ponds.
Which side of the mountains are you on?
Zone 8 sounds like the west side.

In the winter the fish go dormant. They don't
eat much except for grazing on algae on the sides of the pond if they do that.
They should not be fed once the water temperature dips below 55 degrees. No
eating, no need for filtering.

What you do need to do is keep a hole open in the ice. Anything that is in
there decomposing needs a place for gasses to escape. Our ponds are too small
and too crowded to let them ice over like natural ponds.
I use an air pump that sits above ground underneath a bucket and sends bubbles
through an air stone to keep a hole open in the ice (zone 7, SE WA).
Your fish can stay outside as long as the pond doesn't freeze solid and you
keep a hole open in the ice. It doesn't sound like you have to worry about too
much snow covering the pond for too long a time.

The same goes for plants, as long as they aren't zoned for 9 and above. They
can stay in the pond for the winter.


k30a
and the watergardening labradors
http://www.geocities.com/watergarden...ors/index.html