THE POND.....

Amazing - why isn't your pond frozen over? Or has it been up to now???

Great camera work !
So glad to know the fish are fine.
Pretty primula :o)
Do you have more of those in flower ?

Yes the fish were fine.... the pond did partly freeze over this week.. i broke the ice to put some fish food in.... i have a yellow primula in flower, it is in my photos....

Thanks, I went over to find it. :o)

They are good plants for this weather aren't they - I have two in flower now, one pink and the yellow one I posted yesterday.

I dont feed my Fish if their not abaout Holly as they go into a semi sleep so their body functions slow rite down ,A Very little food is given only if their up looking 4 some :) Iv a water fall /Pump going all the time & My Pond only froz up alittle @ other end from Water Fall :) Glad ur fish are ok :) Its a Fab Pic & they would of made me giggle 2 :)lol

Hooray! there they are full of life, they were created to withstand very cold water.

hi Holly, your fish look fine there. i had to feed my fish last week as they were all up the top of the pond, normally i wouldnt feed them during the winter

Like Jacque, i dont feed my fish in winter, i stop feeding round about end of october, then start again about March time, also i have a ball in mine in the winter it stops gas building up if the pond freezes, my fish are about 7 or 8yrs old now so must be doing something right with them.

Lovely photos of the fish. Perhaps they were trying to tell you spring is on the way.

Nice thought, Hywel! :-)

I've heard of goldfish being frozen in the ice and coming back to life when thawed out. I think they are pretty hardy little things.

Lovely photos Hollyeves , i,m glad your fish are healthy , they are tough little creatures aren,t they !

Thats a nice little tale Holly......

Thanks for all your comments....i havnt been feeding them much.... this morning ice on the pond but only on half of it... i put a piece of polystireine... if thats how you spell it lol.... in the pond so it doesnt all freeze over.....going to make a bigger pond in the spring.....

Hi Folks,
Do not feed the fish at all until the temperature reaches at least 10 degrees or even higher in the Spring. Their systems cannot cope with food or digest it in the winter during cold weather, and they naturally slow right down. The fish will swim to the lower levels of the pond during the winter where there is more warmth and protection for them. You will also notice that they swim more slowly during this time, and this helps to conserve their energy.

We stop feeding our pond fish late October and they are not fed again until late March or April when the weather warms up again, and only when the temperature outside is 10 degrees or higher.

When you start feeding them again in the Spring only give them a SMALL amount of food. Generally we only feed ours every few days except if it's a very hot summer, and then they are fed twice a day BUT with a small amount of food.

A lot of the fish food manufacturers advise you on the packaging to feed them up to four times a day. That is not necessary, and you end up building up waste in your pond, and, of course, the manufacturers want to encourage you to buy more fish food!

The common mistake with pond fish is overfeeding them and also giving them food during the winter months.

They find lots of natural food from micro-organisms in the pond as well when the weather is warm to supplement their diet, and they build up fat reserves for the winter months to keep them going.

We have one fish that is over 30 centimetres (one foot) long in our tiny pond and there are now over two dozen fish of all sizes. The pond is quite deep, and this helps them in the winter. We keep our filtration system going all year round.The secret is to ensure the oxygen levels are kept up if the pond is well stocked with fish, and also having an effective filtration system installed.
Circulating the water via pump or filtration system will help to stop the pond freezing over, or you can float some table tennis balls on the surface of the water which might also help to stop the surface freezing if you do not have any water running into your pond.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Grenville

Thanks for the imformation Grenville ... my fish have been in the pond for 2 years and are getting quite big now....just checked on them this morning and they are all ok and swimmimg slowly round...... i was worried as the ice has been on the pond all week..... i will not feed them untill the spring......... Holly.....