Colwater fish for pond?

[Tom the bomb]

Im planning on getting a pond but I live in Toronto, Canada and winter is cold.
And I dont really want koi. I was thinking of some sort of gar or ray are any of those coldwater?
which species. if not what are some other coldwater species I can have.
Woukd axolotl or sopme turtle work?

 

[Hendre]

How cold is cold? Do ponds freeze over in winter?

 

[Magnus_Bane]

How cold is cold? Do ponds freeze over in winter?

Unless OP has a pond heater it will freeze over during winter. Personally I would recommend getting some trout like Rainbows or Brook as they tend to prefer cold water and if the pond is deep enough they will tough out a freeze over.

 

[Blakewater]

It gets cooold up there. I suggest a greenland shark...

In all seriousness, i dont know the laws on whats legal to keep or take up there but maybe do some research on native fish like sturgeon or, as magnus mentioned, trout. Then read into what they require and play to that information. Science will always know better than a bunch of guys guessing because we don't live in your area

 

[Magnus_Bane]

It gets cooold up there. I suggest a greenland shark...

In all seriousness, i dont know the laws on whats legal to keep or take up there but maybe do some research on native fish like sturgeon or, as magnus mentioned, trout. Then read into what they require and play to that information. Science will always know better than a bunch of guys guessing because we don't live in your area

Now that would be one hell of a fish pond. Lol that would be amazing if ya could have a Greenland shark. You'd have to find some young guy to take care of it tho when ya die, from what I've heard they can live several hundred years. Definitely allot more of an investment then a parrot or tortoise. Too bad they are critically endangered tho.

But yeah definitely agree that sturgeon would make for a good cold water pond type fish, maybe even some panfish could work as long as it's deep enough and they're provided with ample cover.

 

[duanes]

I lived in Milwaukee for a long time, same longitude as Toronto, unless my pond was over 4 ft deep, it would freeze solid to the bottom, so I always had to bring fish in for the winter.
Beyond the cold, my ponds had to be deep enough that the depth, and shear sides to depth had to discourage raccoons.
When the ponds were shallow, and I was stocking them with cichlids in summer, I would find headless bodies on the patio every morning, due to marauding raccoons.
I was never a fan of goldfish or koi, but the depth made it impossible to see fish of natural coloration, other than as occasional fleeting shadows, so the only fish able to be seen, and live in my climate were species like those koi and goldfish.
For a while I stocked the pond with cool water cichlids, in the photo below, there are hundreds in the pond, see um?

After a couple of years of invisible fish, I bit the bullet and added some goldfish and koi.

 

[Tom the bomb]

It gets cooold up there. I suggest a greenland shark...

In all seriousness, i dont know the laws on whats legal to keep or take up there but maybe do some research on native fish like sturgeon or, as magnus mentioned, trout. Then read into what they require and play to that information. Science will always know better than a bunch of guys guessing because we don't live in your area

thats not rea;istic....
It would die in the summer and ponds ont be big enough

 

[Blakewater]

thats not rea;istic....
It would die in the summer and ponds ont be big enough

What isnt realistic? The sturgeon or the trout? If the trout is too big I wouldnt plan on gar either since they get larger

 

[Chefken]

The big question is how big and how deep is the pond?? Perch, sunfish, Bass, channel and bullhead cats, pickeral, pike, carp......they all could probably winter over if you are 4 feet deep or more. 15-25 foot deep and trout are possible. If you are talking just a couple hundred or few thousand gallons then Koi are your best bet along with a surface heater to allow air exchange during winter. I used to run a 1600 watt electric heater and found one that runs on 60 watts.....does a great job on my pond up in foothills of the Berkshires in CT......and it is only 22inches deep.

 

[Blakewater]

The big question is how big and how deep is the pond?? Perch, sunfish, Bass, channel and bullhead cats, pickeral, pike, carp......they all could probably winter over if you are 4 feet deep or more. 15-25 foot deep and trout are possible. If you are talking just a couple hundred or few thousand gallons then Koi are your best bet along with a surface heater to allow air exchange during winter. I used to run a 1600 watt electric heater and found one that runs on 60 watts.....does a great job on my pond up in foothills of the Berkshires in CT......and it is only 22inches deep.

Link me to that 60 watt heater Im very interested. From what I understoood it doesnt matter what wattage it is because of the rules of energy transference. Example: A smaller heater will cost as much as a higher wattage heater because it'll just be running more often to heat the same amount of water.