Pond Problems, tired of buying fish

[Joe Pelonio]

I have a small pond with waterfall, about 4'x7'. It goes from 12" to 24" deep and that's enough for the winters here, my gold fish stayed alive even with 2" ice on top a couple of years ago. Well last fall I had a visit from a great blue heron, my wife saw it on the fence and didn't think why it was there, so it ate about 12 5'6" fish. When I replaced them I covered the pond with that black plastic deer netting, fairly invisible and no trouble until now. I found my netting all messed up, plants uprooted, large rocks fallen into the water, and even some good sized rocks on TOP of the net. Other than a human, I figured the only things we have in the area that could have done this were racoons.
This time they ate close to 20 fish, so it may have been a whole family. Now I have green "rabbit" wire fencing (1/2" squares) over it, and will wait until spring to get new fish, but now it's ugly and defeats the purpose of a pond to have a fence over it. If I place it under the water the fish can't come up to get their food. Any ideas?

[Lee DeRaud]

Stock it with pirahna? :eek:

[Jim Hinze]

Wow, that is a problem... This past summer, I removed a 120g pond for similar reasons... we had much smaller fish that were being consumed by some neighborhood birds. We didn't have raccon's, but my 2 dogs loved to swim with the fishes :) . Despite some fencing and covers, the animals always won.

I don't have any good suggestions for you... I hope you do find a solutions. I miss our pond, it was nice in the summers to sit on the patio with an outdoor fireplace and listen to the pond and watch the fish munch the insects...

[Todd Woodward]

you've got a dozen fish that are 5 foot 6inches long? Chicken wire will do the trick.

[John Hart]

How about an ultrasonic animal repeller? Here's a link for a programmable one, but there's a bunch of different ones out there in cyberland.

http://www.brandsonsale.com/hg-004251.html

[John Hemenway]

If it's still a heron...

I was at the local tropical fish store yesterday and commented on the plastic heron they had in the store (They also do ponds). Their comment was the heron's are territorial and if there is one already there (plastic) a real one won't visit the pond.

If it's raccoons, how about getting a pet mountain lion? :)

[John Hart]

...If it's raccoons, how about getting a pet mountain lion? :)

Here Kitty kitty.....LOL Too funny John!:D

[Ken Garlock]

Joe, you have an opportunity to save on the grocery bill and vary your diet.

My uncle once went on a coon hunt and brought back one. I cleaned it, par-boiled it, breaded and fried it. Tastes just like chicken.:D

[Lee DeRaud]

Joe, you have an opportunity to save on the grocery bill and vary your diet.

My uncle once went on a coon hunt and brought back one. I cleaned it, par-boiled it, breaded and fried it. Tastes just like chicken.:DHeh. Notice how everything the least bit exotic "tastes like chicken"? Except ostrich, the one thing you'd expect to taste like chicken, tastes like beef. Go figure.:p

[Rob Bourgeois]

actually to us Cajuns..chicken tastes like alligator.;)

Try the plastic heron and maybe a plastic owl for the coons. The plastic heron should work based on what others have said. My dad had the same problem adn it stoped his heron problems.

[Joe Pelonio]

I actually had as many as 30 fish before the Heron's visit. And we do have an outdoor fireplace and porch swing there for summer evenings. That repeller looks interesting, I suppose the dogs can get used to it. They hang around near the pond to visit the neighbor's dog thru the fence, but have never gone into the water. We give them a wading pool when it's hot. The dogs stay in the house most of the time or they'd chase anything else, like they do with the squirrels. Also, a fake heron would look nice there so I could do that too
but it probably wouldn't bother the racoons.

[Dan Gill]

I'd say a low electric fence wire around the pond would do it for the racoons. The heron might take something else, but it sounds as if you had the heron problem licked anyway. After getting shocked once, your dogs won't go near the wire. Have you ever used one for a horse? You lead the horse to the wire and let it get shocked. After that, it would take you and all your neighbors to drag the horse up to the wire. Unless they have improved immensely over the past few years, the ultrasonics won't work.

[Jim Benante]

I have a pond also and have lost 11 fish in the past few years. Many of the fish were over 14 inches in length (raccoons) and a few 3-4 inchers (heron). Main problem is the pond isn't deep enough. The best defence for heron or racoon is a deep pond with no shallow shelves for herons or raccoons to stand on. They say atleast 5 feet deep. My pond came with the house I bought and is about 2.5-3.5 feet deep in the center and less than that in other areas. I was going to dig it deeper, but have a new baby in the house and figure I'd fill it in for now and make some yard for playing ball in once the little guy gets a few years older.

I hate to see the pond go, but after losing all those fish I know it has to be changed or taken out. I didn't really like the look of any netting or fencing around the pond as it takes away from the it. Only option was a complete do over and I would rather spend the money on tools and wood than a pond right now and I'm a fish lover, see the avatar.

[Lee DeRaud]

Main problem is the pond isn't deep enough. The best defence for heron or racoon is a deep pond with no shallow shelves for herons or raccoons to stand on. They say atleast 5 feet deep. My pond came with the house I bought and is about 2.5-3.5 feet deep in the center and less than that in other areas.A lot of places, anything deeper than 18" or so is covered by the same regulations as a swimming pool: 5-6' fence, locking gate, etc.

[Joe Pelonio]

My pond at 12" one end to 24" under the waterfall was based on the minimum to not freeze solid in our climate. I didn't want it deeper for safety reasons. I'll think about the electric fence, that's workable and the dogs don't get that close to it and both have long fur (Golden Ret. & golden mix). The fish I buy are "feeders" for like .20 each, it's just that I get to like them and hate to have them eaten after they go from 1-2" to 5-6". I even have two with names that I haven't seen since the racoons.

[Tom Hamilton]

Hi Joe:

In my Master Gardener days I taught the class on home pond managment and thus have some feel for your situation.

You've created a beautiful natural habitat for fish and the preditors will come as a result.

Seems pretty natural. So, perhaps you could create some hiding places for the fish in you pond. Submerged concrete blocks provide hiding places, or stacking flat pavers with overhanging ledges and swim throughs can all be a way to deter preditors. PVC sections can also provide cover for the fish population.

Some of the plant life can also be effective.

Another method that can work is to create gird of fishing line, say 12 inch squares suspended above the pond. I seen it work a foot above the water and as high as three feet. Since your preditor is a wader I suspect closer would be better for you than further.

The plastic heron may also be effective. It will probably take a combination of approaches to win the battle. :)

Good luck, TJH

[Les Smith 71]

I very seldom make a post but, I felt I could offer some help in this area. I guarantee that this will work and you wont spoil the beauty of your pond. A motion activated sprinkler. The Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000071NUS/qid=1130985035/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2445802-3284963?v=glance&s=hi&n=507846 I've used one to scare off cats, racoons, deers, you name it from our garden and flower beds. Also, I've used mouse traps painted the same color as the surface that they will be laying on. You can tie a string to multiple traps and when one goes off they all go off. I've seen a cat come out of it's skin setting the mouse traps off. I had five set out tied together and three days straight I came out and they were tripped after that they were never tripped again. Hope this is some help.

[Jim Becker]

Joe, we have always been afraid of this very thing, especially with our new, larger pond. I don't know about the raccoons...haven't had that problem, but in our deepest area (about 28"), which we constructed specifically for the goldfish and shabunkins to be able to go deep in the winter, we also placed what used to be the bottom of a worm composting bin on it's legs. It provides more planting space for shallow plants and also provides about a 24" round "cave" for the fish to hide under when they feel so inclined. We also keep quite a bit of plant life which further shields them from prying bird-eyes. No sign of any herons in our immediate vicinity, but we have seen them in our part of the county. Hopefully, they will stay away from our small pond nearly against the house!

[Joe Pelonio]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The scarecrow sprinkler would be great if it were not for the dogs. I might try it though and only turn it on at night, maybe put the water line on a timer. Meanwhile last night I sunk a couple of concrete blocks and a flower pot sideways with the bottom hole punched bigger to provide hiding areas. In the spring I'll get some flagstones to put under the rocks around the edges to create an overhang. I got info from a bird expert that the heron can spot a
pond with fish from hundreds of feet up in the air, and once they
have a good meal they remember it and go back. I will try the fishing line idea, that sounded great as it's fairly invisible and still allows access for me. As for plants, the water iris are about all that can make it thru the winter when it freezes over, the lillies go dormant and floating plants
all die so I have to get new ones every spring.

[Brad Schmid]

We had the bird problem in our backyard small pond as well (herons and egrets), even with lots of water plants. We put a few rubber snakes around it, and bingo, no more problems. I was skeptical, but it worked. I Don't think that would work on raccoons though. The sprinkler idea sounds promising though.

My main problem now is a certain family pet (yellow lab). She has this thing about diving for fish, pulling out plants, and chewing on the fountain/pump:rolleyes: :eek:
Cheers

[Joe Pelonio]

Brad,

Our Golden and mix love to swim but have never tried in the pond. The youngest we got as a pup after the pond was in and we trained him to stay away from it, the mix just never seemed interested, maybe because of the large rocks around it. We did have the lab pup next door break down a fence board one day and come in to visit, and he took a dip,
then ate a few water hyacinths.