I have a fantail goldfish in the pond with comets and a koi. He gets along well, but I recently heard that fantails will not tolerate the cold water of winter. I live in northwest NC. Should I bring him in the house?

Hi Jan, I would definately bring him in if you have an aquarium to keep him in. They really can't withstand the cold all that well. That is just my opinion though! Wait to see what Robyn has to say. Make sure if you do bring him in that you adjust him to the warmer climate slowly so he doesn't get ick! Elaine

I have a fantail comet/goldfish..she's red and white,with a fancy tail. We had spurts of very cold weather and she made it thru. She's a proud momma this summer. The pond nursery said she would be 'more sensitive' than single finned. But she's fiesty and a bruiser. lol Thought I'd throw in an answer tho I get confused between comets/goldfish/fancy/and fantails. It'd be alot easier if they were just FISH. :blink: :D

I'm on the border between zone 4/5. My first year, the pet store knowing I was stocking a local pond, sold me lots of fish that ended up not hardy enough for the area. Some of which were fancy tails and black moores. Some made it thru winter, but some didn't. I now bring them inside for winter.

Jan, I've had fantails in my pond in the past. They've all expired. When I started my pond 10 years ago, I put in 3 orange and white fantails and 3 black moors and 3 calico fantails I think. Only about three survived the first winter. Of those, only 1 lived a while, maybe 5 years. I added a few more fantails later, and one lived to about 7 inches long (I'd have to read through my tons of pond newsletters to find the details) after half a dozen years. Fantails can take it down to freezing but they are more delicate. I'm in Zone 6/7. Since you're in a warmer region, they (fantails, not necessarily the more fancy goldfish like telescope-eyed which includes black moors, orandas, lionheads, bubble-eyes (forget it!), pearlscales, etc.) will probably do okay with the winter itself. The larger problem I've found with fancy goldfish is that predators (like raccoons and herons) find them to be easier to kill than the regular goldfish so they go first. Also, the regular goldfish (commons, comets, shubunkins) will beat up on all the goldfish during spawning (or anytime for fun). Damage to the fancy goldfish tends to be more severe since they can't swim as well to get away. Today, I only have fantails inside, three boys in a 65 gallon tank.

If your pond is deep enough to overwinter goldfish and will be aerated for winter, then I think where you live, they fantail should survive the winter itself. As for other problems, who knows.

I really shouldn't tell this story because it is so upsetting to me but...since Robyn mentioned the beating up part I will tell my grusome tale. I had two Red Cap Oranda's for 5 years. Ogo and Pogo. Pogo eventually died of swim bladder disease. Ok well my remaining guy, Ogo, was living in my 55 gallon aquarium by himself, so I put a baby Koi in with him for company. So far so good! Well, as the koi grew, he started to pick at the Oranda's "cap". A couple days later I came home from town, and the Koi, omg I can't believe I have to say this....well, the Koi ate the Red Cap Oranda's Eyes and the poor little guy, well big guy, 5" was swimming around with no eyes! I freakin' freaked right out and went into a complete LOSE IT spree. I grabbed a pitcher and netted Ogo and stuck him in the freezer and never looked in there for 2 months! I took the rotton Koi, well he is really very pretty, well I took his rotton butt and threw him in the pond! I am not sure this traumatizing story is very irrelevent, it is just part of my therapy to talk about it :(

Oh my, quite a story KK. Hope you feel better.

It's cute the way you express yourself; took his rotten butt and threw him into the pond. That's a good place for him. Sometimes I threaten my guys with time out.

That's a sad story. I've heard of various fish eating each others eyes out before. I wonder why they do it? Eyes can't taste that good! Fish without eyes can continue to live as long as the sockets don't become infected. They should be kept alone though so they don't have to compete for food which they can find by smell. Fish can be pretty nasty to each other but, apparently, it's not their fault as somehow they are programmed to do it. It's a good idea to keep bigger fish away from smaller fish and koi in ponds where they belong. I would probably have freaked out more than you KK if I can home to that!