Chippin ice to add fish!

[Airbrusher]

As crazy as it sounds thats exactly what I did the other day when a buddy showed up at the house with a half dozen really large goldfish he's rescued from an outdoor fountain where the business had shut down and the owners just abandoned everything.....I had my doubts that the fish would live, but we went ahead and chipped 1" thick ice off my outdoor goldfish pond and added these guys. My pond pump died recently and I haven't been able to afford another one yet or I wouldn't have needed to break thru the ice.....but I'm happy to report the new residence are doing fine and the winter time switch didn't seem to bother them much.....Them ol Goldfish are some tough critters aren't they.

[Sundance]

Wow. How deep is your pond?

[Airbrusher]

Its roughly a 550 gal pond, and the deepest part is 3ft deep.....I hope to change that in the next year or so to about 4ft and inlarge the size to about double capacity and add a water fall.

As an additional note:....the ice is all gone and the fish that we put in are still doing fine.

[Airbrusher]

I thought i'd do a follow up on this. The goldfish we added did quite well for several weeks, but as you know we've had alot more freezing temps in Arkansas this winter then normal. And to make matters worse, my pump died and the pond froze solid on two occasions since. Sadly, I've lost roughly 90% of my large fancy tail goldfish, and most of the largest fathead minnows from what I can tell. This old pond has been in need of a new liner for several years, so I guess now will be as good a time as any to rip it all up and rebuild it. If finances allow I hope to inlarge it some and double its capacity while also adding a larger waterfall, but that will most likely depend on how much pump I can afford. I'm sick of buying these small "Pond pumps" that only last a year or less. I'll try and take pics during the process that I can share. I hate that we lost most of our large and beautiful goldfish that we've raised from those tiny ones we got from the baitshop 9 years ago, but thats the way it goes sometimes.

[pinkrblu]

Sorry to hear that you lost so many. That really bites.