Hi all. I'm an old hand at aquariums, having raised fish for 35 years, fresh
and salt water. Last year I finally bit the bullet and built my garden pond.
It is 4 feet by 12 feet by 45 inches total depth. The upper 18 inches are built
out of ground using stacked and bolted 4 by 4s (it was easier than trying to dig
completely through a two feet thick hardground in my backyard, and actually
looks pretty nice. My filter is resident inside the pond, and is beneath water
fall, which is also inside the pond. I have a 20 gallon old jacuzzi filter that
I converted for the purpose. I also have a 5 gallon pre-filter sunk to the
bottom of the pond that makes maintainence much easier. I just pull, it up with
a coathanger wire about once every three weeks and clean it out. Lately, it
hasn't needed cleaning, and my water is crystal clear. It is actually cleaner
than my salt water tank, which I've neglected this spring due to outside
chores.The pump moves about 1400 gallons/hour.

My pond has vertical sides that drop to a step that is 18" below the water
surface that then surrounds the entire pond (this is where I place my plants).
Then the pond drops vertically from there to 45 " in total depth. I've been
told that steep sides will keep critters out. I've yet to have problems, but
then, the pond is only a year old. I was feeding the fish this morning and from
somewhere close by I heard the loud "honk" of a goose (maybe a Canadian goose -
we get those around here sometimes). I never saw it, but my neighbor has a huge
oak tree that blocks the eastern the skylineto about the 10 O-clock position of
the sun. Should I be worried about geese getting into my pond and eating my
fish? It is close to the house, so I would think the goose would stay away, but
who knows? I also have a beautiful, large (26") albino channel catfish (at
least 5 lbs) that guards the pond like a hawk (I also have 8 goldfish, 4 koi,
and babies that hide in the rocks). It has even gone after the hands of the
neighbor kids (no damage done, just some wet whinie little ones). Yesterday it
splashed away a curious gray squirrel in a huge rush of water with its tail, if
you can believe it. I think the squirrel startled the catfish by its presence.
The catfish certainly startled the squirrel. I thought the poor thing would
have a heart attack. It fell all over itself trying to get away. Are geese
large enough to go after a catfish of that size, and the other fish, or will it
shy away from the pond altogether with that catfish in there? Anyone out there
have any experience with geese that they'd like to share? I've heard that
really large catfish (larger than mine, obviously) have been known to eat birds,
but a goose? At the moment, he can eat two entire cut up tilapia fillets in one
feeding, or about 15 peeled gulf shrimp, but will also eat the koi food. I
don't have any good digital pictures of him yet, because my digital camera is a
cheapie and it washes out the images. When I do get some, I'll post them for
everyone to see.