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PREPARING THE FISH FOR WINTER
It is a good idea to prepare your fish for winter. Feed them a good high protein food because as the weather cools, the natural food sources dwindle. Fish in the Fall should be plump and sleek. This helps to build up their bodies for the long winter sleep. Look at it like fattening up the livestock for the winter. Supplemental feeding should only be what the fish can eat in 5 - 10 minutes and should be eliminated as soon as the weather turns cold and the fish become sluggish. Thus, after supplemental feeding your fish should be in top physical shape and hopefully better able to fight off any disease that would attack if they are stressed. Remember, all common pond fish are capable of over wintering without feeding because nature has provided them with a metabolic slow down which causes all bodily functions to almost become dormant. The fish live on fats stored in their bodies and are not bothered by the cold unless it is excessive.
Do not begin to feed the fish again in spring until they are darting actively around the pond. If feeding is done too early and the fish eat more than their slowed metabolism can digest, they can die. Start spring feeding with a wheat germ based food that is easier for the fish to digest.
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Changing 1/2 to 2/3 of the water in the autumn is highly desirable with ponds heavily stocked with fish. It works like a tonic. Through the summer they have been feeding, breeding, excreting, and urinating in the same water. The waste products are broken down by bacteria into carbon dioxide, water ammonia, and ammonia compounds. Other bacteria have then oxidized the ammonia to nitrites. Most nitrites, which are toxic to fish, have been converted by yet another bacteria into nitrates, which are harmless to fish as well as being an essential food for plants. Some nitrites, however, remain unconverted and cause a pollution. The degree of pollution depends on the number and size of the fish in relationship to the volume of water in the pond. Thus changing the water helps to relieve some of the stress for the over wintering fish. This should be done only if it is not a monumental undertaking.
The only other thing you may want to do for the fish is to drop a couple of things down there to provide a little cover. These things can be hollow pipes or even rocks.
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