Mike wrote:

I just built a 750 gallon pond and have 9 goldfish in it. Considering it
gets very cold here in Montreal I will be bringing the fish in for the
winter. My question is how big of an aquarium do I need for these fish?
They were bough in June as feeder fish and the biggest is now no more than 3
inches long. I have a 10 gallon tank I could use. Is this too small? Any
suggestions?

Mike




Mike,

I live in a climate zone similar to Montreal (Minneapolis). In order to
winter your fish in the pond you need about three feet of water. My
1700 gallon pond is almost that deep in the middle. I get about a foot
of ice covered by a few feet of snow (depending on the year).

That leaves a couple of feet for the fish and I keep a 12 inch hole open
in the ice with a 1200 watt de-icer. The cost to run the de-icer is
about $120 US over the six months of winter (depending on the snow cover).

I mention this because catching the little devils is hard in my 10 by 15
foot pond. The one year (out of six) that I brought them in for the
winter I ended up buying a minnow trap ($6) and building a fish trap for
the larger ones ($2). Baited with dog food this combination worked
really well.

But what's the point of having fish if you bring them inside in
September and then don't get them back in the pond until early June?
Their quality of life is probably better in the pond than the basement.
Mine were rather spooked by the glass of the aquarium and I ended up
covering the sides to reduce the stress.

Besides, it's a great excuse to enlarge your pond.

dss