my Zen Water Garden and Koi Pond

[kien]

Originally Posted by Dez

How big is your pond? I think I'm going to cheat a bit and make my pond 27". I do have a 6' fence all the way around anyway, except for my gate which goes down to about 5' due to slope. Good tips on wintering. I'll be wintering for the first time this coming winter and moving my fish from the front pond to the back.

10' x 11'. There is a 1' ledge on the sides for plants, then it drops down to 2'. When I called the city of Calgary they said that you can not count your yard fence. Then fence around the pool/pond/puddle has to be within a few feet of the water but I can't exactly recall how close it has to be. Incidentally, my pond has a fence/wall on two sides that are about 4 feet from the water. I would just have to fence in two more sides which wouldn't be too bad, but I doubt I'll do it (dig deeper). Also, one time I called city hall and they said I would also have to put a sign up. I don't recall reading that anywhere though. City bylaws my be different between Calgary and Edmonton though.

To be honest, over wintering without the hoop-house was rather stressful. I'd be out there checking on the pond almost daily, not that there'd be anything I could do if I found a complete block of ice 2 feet deep

My next door neighbour has a pond too that is only a foot (or maybe 18" deep) and they overwinter their fish outside too. Their pond is tiny, like 5' by 4' and they just blast it with flow to keep the water moving so that it doesn't freeze. I'm not so sure how the fish like that though..