how to winterize a small outdoor fish pond
 

I previously asked a similar question about my pond and have come to the conclusion my fish wont survive with out giving them away....so, was wondering if I had a heater, would that work? If so what size for approximately 200-300g. Is there even such a thing? This is the first season we've had it.

i believe finnex makes 400-500 watt heaters. even a 300w jager would prob. do ya good. as long as your keeping the water above freezing and steady i think you should be fine.

I've heard of people using cow trough heaters to heat small ponds in the winter. You could look into something like that. Best of luck! It gets much colder in New York than here. All I have to do is cover my pond in the winter to prevent leaves from getting in.

I know! I used to live in N.C.
 

I've been up here approximately 11&1/2 years

Do you know how it stands? Where would I find such? It was 4 degrees (can you imagine?)this am and the fountain in the pond was still running! I hope I'm not too late and brought damage to the tub. I never included that information. Probably a bad mistake...right? LOL.

Thanks guys and gals for the past input and the next to come

Stonesy

I'm confused, if they are pond fish, they will be fine. If you are trying to keep tropicals outside, you are fairly screwed.

pond fish will only be fine if the pond is minimum 3 feet deep ( i think its 3 feet, someone might need to correct me )

That depends on your local ground freezing depth. If it is 1ft, you need at least 1 extra foot of depth. Insulating the tank, bottom and sides will help. Adding an insulated top will help even more. Insulation is key for small ponds and even more so if you want to heat it!

If the fountain is still running, you are good shape. The goal with ponds is to prevent the top from completely freezing over. I can do that down here by just keeping the pump running (it broke on me one winter, so we had to use a pond bubbler). You will probably need a heater of some sort. I think you can find water trough heaters at farm supply stores. 1F2F brought up a good point: just how deep is your pond? And is it above ground or in-ground?

Pond fish will be fine if the top doesn't freeze over. That's when people get into trouble. Especially those in the northern reaches. In order for the pond to be fine and have the top freeze over, the pond needs to be rather large (talking acres of water, not your typical backyard pond).

You're right. Three feet is considered the minimum for koi and to prevent loss of fish during the winter. It can go up to as high as 4 feet in the northernmost reaches.