Water Gardening: Need help for wintering koi!, 1 by edevenny

edevenny wrote:
Background: With the summer purchase of my house, I inherited a koi in a very small pond (50 gal), and not knowing better, I bought two more small koi to keep him company. I didn't realize how fast they grow or how much space they need. They're all still fairly small, 6", 4" and 3" - so I'm hoping they can make it through the winter in this small space, until I can add another larger pond next spring. The PetWorld people keep assuring me all will be well as long as I keep my filter running, but the staff there are all so young (and pierced ;-) that I'm not sure I trust them to know.......

My question is about feeding. I've read all I could find about when to cut down, switch to wheat germ, when to stop feeding, but no place I've found has addressed fluctuations in temperature, and we have lots of fluctuations here in southeast coastal Virginia. The water temps have ranged from 45-65 degrees over the past month, changing often. Once the temps get down to the stop-feeding point, do I stop for the winter, or do I feed them whenever temps go back up? Once they go dormant, do they stay that way, or do they get active when things warm up a bit, only to go dormant again when it gets colder? I've become quite attached to them and hope to do the right thing.
Any help will be greatly apprecitated
Thanks
Liz