On Dec 28, 9:49*pm, "someone" wrote:
my 6' x 4' pond had 10 goldfish and a couple of other waifs and strays. *All
were fine until a few days ago.

Ice became quite thick, about an inch, on the pond, so I melted it down with
a large pot of boiling water, and achieved a hole about 18" diameter. *All
the fish were fine. *I put a black dustbin lid on it to keep the hole open,
and lo and behold, the next day all the fish were still fine and four frogs
popped up as well at the edge of the ice. Every evening I put the lid down
and every day I removed it, and there were the fish and the frogs. *I didn't
even think I had frogs.

Last night I didn't put the lid on because it was quite warm and not near
freezing, and there was the big hole in the ice that I'd made earlier.

Today, I found my largest goldfish, about 20 years old, frozen under the ice
a foot away from the hole. *Also two other goldfish frozen just under the
ice. *All these were born in my pond, so I feel pretty bad. *There is still
a large hole in the middle of the pond, and the other fish are swimming
about slowly. *And then I found six female frogs frozen under the ice at the
edge of the pond.

I feel devastated. *Was it because I didn't put the bin lid on, or would
this have happened anyway, *because frogs are not clever enough to not go to
the sides of the pond?

I hate winter.

someone

Buy yourself a pond aerator. The box has to go inside the house or
somewhere dry. This keeps ice from forming in all but the coldest
weather. I did hear of someone addtionally made himself a heater for
the air, metal pipe wound round a lightbulb sort of thing.
Also you can buy electric heaters that keep a small part ice free.