You have to make sure the ice is not made with chlorinated water. Trout are also very sensitive to water conditions. I don't want to prolong the argument but I'm an avid fly fisherman and thought I might weigh in on the temperature debate. The way I understand it is when you have cold water it is able to retain oxygen better. the warmer the water the less dissolved oxygen is available to the fish. When our streams in Colorado reach 66-70 degrees alarms bells start going off in our state fisheries biologists heads and they put out an advisory discouraging fisherman from fishing for our trout. You see the problem is not that the fish cannot survive these conditions as you all seem to be arguing. The problem is they become highly stressed. Add any extra outside stress and they go belly up. Now to my point... As responsible ambassadors of this hobby is it moral to keep fish in conditions that would be highly stressful to them just because you can PROBABLY get away with it? I think we can all answer no to this. If someone puts an Oscar in a 29 everyone on this sight goes up in arms right? I think the common statement is, if you can't afford the proper enclosure for the fish then you shouldn't get the fish. Same goes for this case. If you want to keep trout, awesome! Do it! But do it right. Get a chiller. Find a way to keep current in the tank a power head makes sense here. And at all costs avoid adding extra stress to the fish. Just my two cents. Hope the OP finds a way to make it happen. Sounds exciting, hope to see pics.
