I have a small stream that runs through my property in Georgia, USA (temps here change seasonally from 30-90 degrees farenheit). I have dug a hole and built a dam, creating a pond which i intend to use to house a small group of channel catfish. It isnt very large, only about 4,500 gallons. I ran into a problem when attempting to stock it with fish. Since the stream water is cold (i dont have an exact temp, but about 45 degrees) the catfish slowed down substantially. I know this slow down is normal, but they wont even eat. I've looked for pond heaters, but i can only find "de icers" designed to create a small hole a in frozen pond. Could these deicers function to raise the core temperature of the pond, or will i have to do something else to raise the temperature, such as reduce water flow?
The amount of electricity it would take to heat a pond of that size even a few degrees, would be serious, and your electric bill would probably sting at a level you may not be prepared for.
Fish like catfish and koi usually don't eat when temps are under 50'F, and if they do, it is often detrimental, because their digestion just doesn't work well enough at low temps to keep them healthy.
Fish like catfish and koi usually don't eat when temps are under 50'F, and if they do, it is often detrimental, because their digestion just doesn't work well enough at low temps to keep them healthy.
My fathers koi pond thats outside the fish do not eat from like October to to March. Temps are usually low starting from those months in Chicago.
Don't worry the cats will be fine.
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build a make shift greenhouse over it. The ambient temp in the greenhouse will raise the temp of the pond during the day assuming you only have a small amount of water cycling through it and its not the entire stream. This will be relatively cheap compared to trying to use electric heaters.
This is what I have in my 3500 gal - IHC Aquatic Submersible Pond / Aquaculture Heater Titanium PTC 6KW-240v. Kind of expensive but it works. ' duanes' is correct on electric bill, I live in Texas and our winter is mild and it still added about $120 to my bill each month. I did keep mine above 72* F, though. Next year I will put a building around it and use solar heating to keep ambient temps up. Will cost way less in the long run.
^^^^this^^^^
kinda like heating your house in the winter time, but leaving all the windows and doors wide open.......simply a futile and expensive battle