My pond is only 36" at it's deepest, I put a cover, leftover liner from
the pond over 2/3 of it covering the last part with heavy clear plastic
for light, its reached -40C in Toronto, Ontario, with an airline in the
water, I'm able to keep a hole open and I see the fish still swimming
below, 3 of the smallest fish are about 2"

I also placed a piece of wood intothe water which I can move around to
break up the ice to make a bigger hole when it starts to creep in around
the wood.

I check it once a week


"Steve" wrote in
news:7N2Pb.180444$X%5.168837@pd7tw2no:

Hello,

I'm sure this question has been asked over and over but I haven't been
able to find any real specific answers to it. I saw some posts where
people are up in Canada and they have a pond in the backyard. I live
in Calgary and the temperatures here get pretty cold at times (-20C to
-30C). If I were to build a pond about 3ft to 4ft deep, would
goldfish be able to survive the winters if I took the necessary
precautions? I.e. Covering the pond with something and keeping the
pond from completely icing over?

Having a pond sounds like a great hobby but also lots of work! I'm
just curios about what success or failure stories in maintaing fish in
the pond in areas where the temperatures are frigid.

Thanks!