Barrel pond

I have not got a pond, as my garden is very long, narrow and on a pronounced slope. So I have got a large barrel containg 2 waterlilies, water hyacinth, various trailing weeds and, to my surprise, 3 goldfish that I thought the cat had got months ago. [They have obviously learned to keep low down. They have grown, though I stopped putting food in around July as I had seen nothing of them].
Although I have had the barrel for some time this is the first year it has anything needing to be preserved over winter. It is about 2' deep. I thought if I wrapped bubble wrap and cardboard round it this might help. Has anyone any advice, please?

 

Is it a wooden barrel Liz, if it is then its got reasonable insulation on its own. Probably only need extra if its a really cold winter.

 

Hi, yes, it is a very ancient wooden barrel, lined with pond liner now to proect it from rot, although it's oak. I'll leave it and see how the weather goes. Thanks!

 

Have you got a shed or something similar to over winter it?
Is it filtered at all as well as those fish may need some help now that they are bigger.
Any ideas how many gallons it holds as goldfish are really messy and need around 20 gallons each.

 

Hi Sandy, Can't lift it! It contains something over 40 gallons, according to my calculations. I can't lift it even when empty, I have to roll it.
I was planning to put a filter in next spring if fishes survive, although they've grown they're still quite little, maybe 2.5". There are lots of snails in the water, would they be helping or hindering? The water is nice and clear at the moment. Should I feed the fish overwinter?

 

If you cant move it then i would seriously consider getting a 20-30 gallon tank and over wintering them. It would be a shame if there was a bad frost and it froze.
Filtration will need to be 10 times the capacity of the tank/barrel and to judge whether or not to feed get a thermometer and if the water temp gets below 4c then stop feeding, but up to 10 give wheatgerm or tiny bits of brown bread.
The snails will help to keep the algae under control but too many will take up oxygen.
Hope that helps

 

Thanks Sandy, I have been giving them shop bought flakes, perhaps they'd like abit of variety!

 

Goldies are pigs and eat a wide variety of food Liz. Try them on a couple of frozen peas boiled for a couple of minutes then shelled and squashed a little. They love them.

 

catch the goldfish with a net and re locate them to a local garden pond

 

I tried to catch them, but they just hide under the large stones I arranged so they would have a refuge! So they'll have to stay there piggily eating peas, and I'll insulate them as best I can....

 

should be here see above its cheap and effective.