Does anyone use heaters for their ponds in the winter?

I have a somewhat small pond with about 4 plecos about 5-6 inches long. Last winter I brought them indoors into a tank but they are too big for that tank so I will have to purchase a much bigger tank. Any idea how many gallons I need? And does anyone just heat their ponds for the winter and does it keep plecos alive?

Thanks so much!

Plecostamus catfish? You are in Oklahoma. Several folks heat ponds- dunno how deep yours is nor wide, but you know to stop feeding at 50*? I think there are other alternatives as well- since Okla ice USUALLY isnt til after the 1rst of the year... have to watch the thermometer close as some arent dependable warmers. Am not where I deal with these issues recently, tho.

Zone 6, Michigan: I don't have plecos, but do have goldfish and koi, and for the last two years I've been overwintering them in big Rubbermaid tubs in a heated (to 50 Fahrenheit) garage with a bubbler in each tub. I've used a heater in the pond before, but the results were very uneven with our winters here. Sometimes the fish were okay, and sometimes I had high mortality even when the heater was working, plus in really bad winters the heater would be buried in snow and ice and not really work. Also, to the extent we had predators around, the fish were safer in the garage.

I have tried and failed on heating a North Texas pond

I live in central southern Indiana in zone 5. Zone 5 dips down almost to the Kentucky state line in the middle of Indiana's southern border so we usually get cold harsh winters. I've had a koi pond, about 600 gal. and 26 inches at deepest point now for 6 years. I have never brought my fish inside for the winter. Don't know about Plecos but I have 4 large Koi and 2 gold fish. The pond freezes over for about 2 months, give or take, in winter. The small K & H De-Icer I use keeps about a 10 inch hole open for the needed gas exchange. Never say never, but I've not lost a fish yet. I do reduce fish feeding in fall and when temps reach 50 - 55 degrees I stop feeding completely. About the last week of October or first week of November I shut down the pump. I sink a 12 inch diameter piece of plastic-like sewer pipe in deepest part of the pond about mid October and cut back all the plants. I've had the pond covered with netting over a light weight metal frame now for about 2 weeks to protect it from falling leaves. It takes a few days for the fish to get use to the pipe but even before I shut down the pump the fish have slowed their movement and taken refuge in the pipe for the winter. So far this method has worked well for me. Once the heater is installed it would be nice to forget about the pond till spring but once it freezes over I'm constantly checking to make sure the heater is working and all is well. Hey Molly Blooms, my map shows you are in zones 4 and 5 in Michigan with zone 6 below most of us here in southern Indiana.

Hi iseegreen! I'm actually in Zone 6 because we're close to one of the Great Lakes. Another three or four miles inland and we'd be in Zone 5; a little further north and inland and we'd be in Zone 4.