What's the deal with gold fish?

[RECHRGD]

We built a water feature last year as part of our landscaping project.  The wife bought 4 gold fish and dumped them in it.  They thrived and grew to about 5 inched long.  They have a cave type place in the rocks around the pond that they go to hide in.  Anyway, this winter got so cold that I had to turn the pump off because of the icing.  The fish were in that frozen pond all winter and it has just recently been warming up.  Yesterday I see two of the fish happily swimming around now that we were in the 70's.  That pond was frozen down at least a foot or so and that would be close to where they would have been 'sleeping'.  It's like I could put the things in the freezer half the year and take them out when I wanted to bring them back to life.  Bob

[last426]

As a long time pond keeper although in an area that never freezes, it is better for the fish to stick one of those warmers in there that keep a little hole open.  They are cheap and don't use much energy.  Fish are durable, that's for sure.  You can see my pond here.  Kim http://www.marlia.com/pond/index.html

[RECHRGD]

As a long time pond keeper although in an area that never freezes, it is better for the fish to stick one of those warmers in there that keep a little hole open.  They are cheap and don't use much energy.  Fish are durable, that's for sure.  You can see my pond here.  Kim http://www.marlia.com/pond/index.html

Kim, I did have a floating heater (1500 watt) in the pond close to the pump and level control housing.  The fish did not come out of their little hiding place under the waterfall to enjoy the warmth.  Yes they are some hardy little buggers.  Nice pond BTW.   Bob

[last426]

Kim, I did have a floating heater (1500 watt) in the pond close to the pump and level control housing.  The fish did not come out of their little hiding place under the waterfall to enjoy the warmth.  Yes they are some hardy little buggers.  Nice pond BTW.   Bob

Wow, it sure must of been cold.  And 1500 watts is massive and not cheap -- I stand in awe of anyone who could have a pond, pumps and fish survive in those conditions.  Good job.  Kim

[RECHRGD]

Yes, it was cold.  The stream starts at the back of the deck and splits into two waterfalls that then flow into the pond on the right lower level.  Maybe I better post a picture without the snow for clarity.   Bob

[bull]

Zombie fish!

[WingCharger]

Fish are amazing animals. Look at the Sturgeon, basically a dinosaur, yet still alive in our lakes and rivers.

They probably hunkered way down in the bottom of the pond, and waited it out.

OR, they might have just gone cannibal on each other. 

[Forza]

Jeez, I had goldfish when I was younger and all they did was die. We cleaned the tank regularly and kept them fed but they all ended up in the big ol' drain in the sky.

[mikesbbody]

Jeez, I had goldfish when I was younger and all they did was die. We cleaned the tank regularly and kept them fed but they all ended up in the big ol' drain in the sky.

You and me both  at least they are easy to get rid of when they die I "flushed" many a dead fish away 

[captnsim]

Where you using tap water? City water or home softener's will kill most fresh water fish...

[mikesbbody]

Yeah, just Tap water some would live for quite awhile I was just a kid I did my best 

[captnsim]

Yeah I learned the hard way to... 

[Todd Wilson]

Goldfish are really tough fish as far as the enviroment goes. You kill them and you are really doing something wrong. But they can catch various illness's and are easily killed.

Back in 1987 I was on christmas break from high skool.  I had a 10 gal fish tank at the time. I was at Walmart and bought 3 feeder goldfish for a dollar or something. They were pretty small. Size of your thumb or less.  2 of them made it for a while and died. The rest of my tank was going good. Anyways fast forward about 3 years I move out of the house. Tank moves to my new place. Got busy with work and drinking beer and basically forgot about the tank in the one room.  After a long long time I decided to throw everything out. By this time there was about 2-3 inchs of brown water left in the tank.  To my surprise  I had 2 fish left. One of which was the last goldfish.   So I cleaned everything up and got the tank going again. A few years later a pet store was closing up and I bought one of their 40 gallon tanks. Put it in my living room and really got into the fish tank hobby. The 10 gallon was a guppy tank and my 40 was the big main tank. Any ways this goldfish that I bought in december of 1987  grew and grew and grew in this new big tank.   Sadly he passed on in 1995 and we buried him in a velveeta cheese box. He was a legend among my friends. Everyone that came to the house had to check out the goldfish.   Sadly I think my ex girlfriend actually killed him. She brought me some fish  for the tank and I think one of the fish had an illness as my big prize goldfish was fine and then floating upside down alive for a day before he died.All in a day or so's time.

Just to give you a scale on the size of my prize goldfish   in this picture to the left you can see a little bit of a red Viper RT10 model I had in the tank. Homey the goldfish is and always will be missed!




Todd

[moparstuart]

 these are the best gold fish

[dodgecharger-fan]

If the pond is deep enough that it doesn't freeze solid and some air can get to the unfrozen stuff, many fish can survive a winter.

My brother in law has a big pond and the only thing that kills the fish are the cats and other critters that come for dinner. The blue heron is the worst.
The fish stay in the pond over winter with no heater.

[RECHRGD]

Interesting replies.  I've gained much respect the the little guys.  I'm still waiting for the other two to appear.  I don't think that they would eat eachother over the winter.  They probably just go into a hibernation mode as the temperature drops.   Bob

[69DodgeCharger]

They may have survived the frozen pond but the ones we had never lasted long once we put them in with Jack. A large Jack Dempsy that is.