The big pond (over 30m long) has stayed frozen all day for 2 days now. The 2 ends under the overhanging decks are not frozen of course.

The ice on the small pond is 12mm thick at 5pm.

The birdbath is still frozen solid

The grass has not defrosted either

Big pond ice is not so thick though

wow looks cold lol :lol:

looks pretty cool :lol:

Awesome

In Scotland we used to go iceskating on our pond in winter! Does it get that thick down there??!

Not anywhere thick enough to ice skate on here

We were watching the fish swim under the ice this morning.

do the fish cope okay with the ice? are there issues with oxygen getting into the water?

Back in the UK we used to have to break the ice with a sledge hammer because it was that thick.

We also had a pipe that protruded above the water .. but was cut away below so that we could just push a rod down the pipe to break the ice in there... which was invarably thinner.

MLF asked:

do the fish cope okay with the ice? are there issues with oxygen getting into the water?

Caryl said above:

The 2 ends under the overhanging decks are not frozen of course.

It "still" amazes me how the arrive in spring.. fit as a fiddle.. but just slightly skinnier ha ha.

Also noting that they could have been several months without food.. and the winters over there are far more severe than here.

I though breaking the ice like that was bad cause the fish get scared?!

They wore ear muffs because of the cold :)

Never heard of that before MLF.. (edit:.. Sorry I mean Fishy-T).. and we wouldn't do it where the fish normally congregate.

Quite often the ice was so thick you couldn't see them anyway

fishy_t: I think they now recommend melting a patch of ice with the bottom of a hot sauce pan if you can't break it by hand (rather than smashing it).

It is said that breaking the ice hurts the fish. Many suggest floating a ball or something in the pond so when you remove it they have a breathing hole.

As noted, my pond has decks overhanging each end so underneath the water is not frozen at those points.

wow that looks very cold i hope neither of you fall in there

An airstone bubbling away would keep a section open.

Unless it really gets cold.

Then it wont matter, they'll be hibernating on the bottom.

Yes it does scare the fish, in fact it can kill them with the shock waves breaking the ice.

you could poor a few jugs of boiling water on a patch to melt a hole

a soccer ball floating in the pond should do it too - as long as it doesn't get TOO cold!

It is said that breaking the ice hurts the fish

Often in these situations there was little option.. as several times in previous years the foot thick concrete sides had cracked due to ice.

Can't say we ever lost a fish through doing this.. and some of them were over a decade old

Bill.

Yeah but look at what fish do when you knock on a glass fish tank.

Then imagine smashing the glass with a hammer and think how the fish would like it!

I suspect if the ice was a foot thick, it was the lesser of two evils. The ice would have continued to thicken and probably swallowed up the fish

Ooops - I read it wrong. It was the concrete which was a foot thick - just ignore me everyone :lol: :lol: :lol:

I suspect if the ice was a foot thick

No Jude... the pond walls were... but the ice often got to three or more inches... and often just overnight..

Bill

Yeah but look at what fish do when you knock on a glass fish tank.

Then imagine smashing the glass with a hammer and think how the fish would like it!

They'd love it! Except they might get hit with the hammer...Or is it just mine that come running when you bang on the tank and beg for food?

One of the weird things about water is that it is at it's densest at 4 deg celcius. This means that it is warmer at the bottom of a pond when it freezes over.

Christchurch was nice a chilly on Wednesday night.. fine for the rest.

my fish frooze in the pond with ice all winter up to minus 9 some days not getting above minus 3 good old central otago, however for the last week or so the temp has been getting up to five or so today it managed to get to 18 i guess summer is coming

my fish are all fine, as long as you don't break the ice. i guess they hibenate. who knows? but this is what happens to fish in ponds down here, as long as you don't put them into the pond just before winter they survive.