goldfish coming in fore the winter

[Amstar]

a buddy of mine has a shallow pond.  I told him he could use my 75 gallon tank in his garage to hold his goldfish over the winter.  what should the tank temp be (whats the lowest it can go for the goldfish)?  the garage is not heated...

[HUNGER]

iv seen them be ok in 40 to 45 

[ohioreef]

I leave them out in my pond over the winter with a stock tank heater to keep the water from freezing completely. I have one who has overwintered for like 3 winters now.

[Joel]

As long as the pond doesn't freeze solid and there is and opening (hole) kept in the ice, thaey can overwinter in the pond.

How shallow is it?

[Viggen]

the last few years I just stick a airstone & a airpump out there to keep the ice from freezing solid.  Works great! 

Floating heaters also work...... but like Joel stated it depends on the depth of the pond

[Secondgen]

For our zone which is 4 to 5 your pond should be at least 18 inches deep for fish to over winter well.

[Amstar]

its about 18" with a waterfall coming down off some rocks as well as one of those small fountain pumps (makes water spurt up in a nice design )

so if he keep that pump running and we throw in a 250 watt heater.. he should be okay?

[slandis3]

A 250w heater probably wont help. They make floating heaters that will leave a nice hole in the ice.when I had our pound I would put a floating heater in and leave the waterfall running.

[woltersb]

I used to install ponds and such.... I would put a floating heater in to ensure proper oxygen exchange etc..... If your waterfall is big enough and flows enough you could leave that on as well! it looks nice in the winter!

[Secondgen]

If you leave your waterfall running be sure and check it from time to time. My parents left theirs running all winter, and it iced up and the water was channeled out the side draining the pond half way down. You don't have to have anything running, you just have to make sure you keep the pond from freezing completely over so you will have proper gas exchange. I have read of people simply floating a basketball in their pond to someone using a big plastic tote, and putting a heat lamp inside melting the surface of the pond. There are many ways to get a good result you just need to pick one that works for you.

[woltersb]

Ya you need to check it just to make sure....small bales of barley straw would be good to float as well... helps with algae

[Secondgen]

Make sure with barley that you don't use to much though, as an over abundance can deplete your pond of oxygen. I don't really know if barley will do anything for algae in the winter time or not. I didn't think algae grew in the winter time.

[Viggen]

Like others stated I wouldn't run the waterfall when it's really cold due to the chance of it freezing over & dumping the water out of the pond.  Just get a floating heater or a airpump  & airstone to keep the ice from going solid, you should be fine

[Amstar]

good place to find a floating heater? 

[Secondgen]

good place to find a floating heater? 

I have one for $20 if you are interested. It was only used 2 seasons.

[Viggen]

I have one as well that I can sell however my reason for selling them is they didn't work very well on my ponds which is why I switched to a airpump.   

AZ ponds
Harrison Ponds
greenvista (north of dayton towards springfield I beleive)
drfosters & smith I beleive also has a few options