Hey, I live in southern manitoba, Canada and I just wanted to know if the climate is too cold for a goldfish/koi pond. The water would freeze in the winter, but what if I take the fishies out during the winter?

I don't know anything about this other than I have friends in Chicago that have outdoor Koi ponds and they leave thier fish in it all year round. They say they filter keeps the water moving so it doesn't freeze and the fish hibernate when it's cold.

It gets cold in Chicago, but I think even colder where you are. It's hard to think about bringing Koi inside, what will you do when they get big? And they get really big, fast.

Someone here should know more about this for you. Good Luck

ok, thanks. You're right the koi would get pretty big. I'd need a pretty strong current to keep the water from freezing though.

My recommendation would be to make it deep enough so that it extends below the frost line and turn the pumps/filters off during the cold months. (Biological filtration pretty much stops below 55 degrees or so.) This will allow the fish to hibernate at the relatively warmer waters at the bottom of the pond in the Winter. You'll want to keep a de-icer in there also to keep a hole in the ice to allow for the exchange of gasses at the surface. The pond would actually be colder if you ran the pumps all Winter and would prevent the formation of thermal layers that protect the fish at the bottom.

For some reason my reply isn't showing up on the thread stats. When I originally posted I got an error. I think it is another "glitch".

I'm having a few problems with postiting responses myself here today Jim.I guess the site is having a go at us today.

Alright, thanks. I'll see what I can do.

My Koi stay outside all winter (and we get 200+ inches of snow). I just keep a de-icer running to keep a hole open to let the toxic gases out. You need to get it pretty deep though. Mine is 4 feet.

ok thanks, now I just have to convince my parents........oh great that could take a while.