Michael,

Googling for "newt pond" turned up this website (among others):
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/conker/pond-dip/newts.htm

It might have some helpful info for you there. My inclination, though, is
that you should find a new home for the Koi if you want the newts to
survive; perhaps there is a Koi club in your area?

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC


"Michael Kilpatrick" wrote
in message ...
Folks,

I wonder if you some of the carp and newt experts around here
would be able offer some advice?

In my pond in South Cambridgeshire I have a lonely,
solitray koi-like fish which hasn't grown any longer than
twelve inches in the three years since I "inherited" it
with the pond and the house. The pond is a good 16 feet
by 8 feet and more than 2ft deep in most places. It has
a pump with water cascade, plenty of oxygenating plants and
a reasonable biodiversity.

It used to have quite a number of goldfish, but I'm pretty
sure the heron got most of those!

I also have several (between four and five) common newts,
whose welfare I am concerned about.

The questions are really these:

Is the koi-thing and the remaining goldfish going
to eat the newt spawn and efts and always prevent the
newts from breeding? Or is there some other reason for my
never seeing any new newts? It's bad enough that the
newts exterminate *all* my frogspawn every year!

Should I get a friend for the koi-thing? Is he lonely? I do
not particularly want a pond full of koi, as I want it to
be a predominantly natural pond with newts and frogs.
I have a smaller more ornamental raised pond elsewhere
with plenty of goldfish, but it is certainly nowhere big
enough to entertain the "monster of the deep". Neither
do I intend to put filters in either pond.

So, are my newts doomed to a childless existence? Is
the koi-thing terribly lonely? What should I do?

I was thinking of building a second pond next to and above
the big one, reusing the existing pump and the cascade
to circulate the water between the two. Any new upper pond,
could easily be kept free of fish, for example.

What is the best solution for viable newts and frogs,
and a happy life for the koi-thing?

Michael