FrankS,

I don't have your extreme lower temps but I off and on suffer your dry
winter air. When the temps get high enough for me to run water through the
hose I turn it on to top off the pond, although recently we have been
fortunate to be getting some nice rain showers that have filled the ponds,
especially, after the last couple of days that put a layer of ice on the
ponds.

Tom L.L.
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"FrankS" wrote in message
...
I live in North Dakota and for the last week or so the temperature has
been
VERY cold. The night time temps have been as low as -28 degrees F for
several nights with the daytime high temps staying below minus 10 degrees
for about a week now. This is cold even for us natives.

I have a small pond, about 300 gallons, stocked with gold fish, a comet,
koi
and shibunkin(sp?) and maybe a crayfish or two. The pond was nearly
covered
with snow and frost that I was sure the fish would be crispy critters by
now
but this afternoon I braved the cold and went out to check on them. I was
surprised and, to say the least, pleased that everyone seemed to be in as
good as spirits as possible under the circumstances. I use a 1200 watt
floating stock tank heater and a bubbler pump but I wasn't sure if the
heater could keep up with the constant cold temps. This, to me, is proof
of
the hardiness of pond fish and the value of a $30 heater. My real
problem
is evaporation, the cold air is very dry and the comparative warm water
makes for rapid evaporation so I'm the only guy in the neighborhood with a
garden hose stretched out in the back yard all winter.

Anyone have a similar experiences?

Frank