Ya I guess that was my concern with the fish in a pond 24" deep, that they could be caught in the ice, or do you run your pump all winter with a heat source?

I don't have a pond yet, it's on the to do list and it's interesting to see what other folks have done/are doing. I was going to go deeper when I dig it, but now I'm wondering if the City of Vernon has similar rules with depth, pool permits etc. Sigh, nothing's ever very straight forward in a city, rules, codes, higher taxes..... Tempted to move out into the boonies somewhere, where I can do pretty much what I want, but it's nice to be able to walk to the Village Market 2 blocks away for groceries too....

You need to keep the water surface agitated, for several reasons:

1. Provides oxygen
2. Helps keep a hole in the ice so that gas can escape
3. Helps keep the pond from freezing solid.

You can achieve this several ways. Either with a pump as MMAX suggested or do what Dez does and just run an air stone all winter.

When I had my in ground pond (I have an above ground pond now) I would still bring my fish inside. Although I recognize the hassle, it was worth it, as if my heater / airstone / whatever stopped working for a couple of days in the middle of winter, everyone of my fish would be done for. It just wasn't worth the risk as I see technology fail all the time.

I have a lighted extension chord that my airstones/heaters are plugged into so that I can look outside and know that there is power to them. Also I plug each heater onto 2 different circuits just in case. And it's quite obvious if the 2 airstones are going cause you can see bubbles. That's regime.

did any of those babies you had a while back grow up?

Brett. I brought them in from the cold, then I wanted to acclimate them slowly to the warm inside water for the winter, I did a 4 hr acclimation for them in a bucket, but I wasn't even thinking about oxygen. So I lost all but 6 I think during the acclimation to the warm water. Silly me. So out of the 6 that survived acclimation, all 6 of them got eaten by the bigger koi (I tried bringing in 4 bigger koi indoors to see how that would go). But one survived the big pond outside that I didn't even know about until after winter was over. So I still have that one and it's about 5" now.

Wow this just blew me away. Hands down the nicest pond I have ever seen. I want a pond now!!! Is it hard to do/maintain?

Sooo cute!!!!!! Love the name :biggrin:

"He always rushes for food and will let my pet his head." That feeling must be wonderful, makes it all worth it.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/01/hazuze2u.jpg

A few lily pads have reached the water surface already.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/06/01/azaqapuq.jpg