Overwintering Koi Indoors

[Nyasa]

I have had a pond now for almost 5 years. Every spring I stock it with fish. Last winter, I left my single comet out in the pond to see how it would fare. My pond was approximately 2.5 to 3 feet deep. It was one of those pre-fab liners. This spring I found the fish frozen solid. I have read that in Calgary's climate your pond must be at least 4 feet deep to not freeze solid to the bottom.

This spring I had the pond renovated. It was widened and is now 3-4 feet deep with a liner and waterfall and filter. I bought four really nice long fin Thai koi from Riverfront earlier this spring. They grew a couple of inches over the summer and were almost 6-7 inches long this fall.

A few weeks ago, I emptied the pond, caught the fish and brought them indoors. I placed them in a fairly large Rubbermaid bucket. It was approx. 114 L. I put an AC 300 over the side. I realize it is somewhat small volume wise for such large messy fish. But I figured with frequent water changes, I would be able to provide decent water quality over the winter. The Rubbermaid was filled to ~4" from the top. The transition went well. Slowly acclimatized them to the basement temperature at 16 degrees Celsius. Went down one morning and two of them were dead on the floor. Most certainly they jumped out. Of course it was the two largest and most beautiful ones. Oops. :bang1:

I am curious as to what others do for their pond fish in the winter. I thought about putting a heater in the pond and insulating the surface, but I was a little concerned about the depth of my pond. I have kept goldfish over winter in this manner before but have never had any fish jump clear out of the tub. I am now using a netting over the top of the container. Any insights or experiences would be appreciated. Thanks.

David.

[Madness]

I have been wintering my Koi outside for the last 10 years with absolutely no problems in only a 2 foot deep pond. I just run a de-icer on a thermostat and keep the pump running to keep the circulation up and have never had a problem with it freezing too much.

[Hemi]

I also bring my koi in in the winter my rubbermaid as my ponds outside are above ground (only renting).

My pond in the basement is 200 gal lost my biggest KOi to jumping too. I use a pondmaster filter with a Bell fountain. other than the one suicide i have had good luck with this setup still no cover though.

Later

Hemi

[Smokey]

For what it is worth:

Fish jumping from their tanks is a common problem. The use of egg-crateing can solve the problem.

Inexpensive & easy to trim - to allow for the mechanical/lighting.

HTH

Smokey

[Nyasa]

Thanks for the responses.

What sort of de-icer do you use Madness? I have seen the cattle trough warmers that the farmer's Co-op sell. They say that these are not true de-icers though as they attempt to prevent freezing rather than thawing ice. I am tempted to try this next winter.

David.

[dunl]

My father-in-law takes his koi inside every October, and puts them in one of those plastic water troughs for cattle (about 150 gallon). He turns the lights off, no thermostat (cool basement), and feeds them every week or two.

The just sit on the bottom of the tank and hibernate like that for the winter - and come out in spring just as fat as they went in.