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A goose and a catfish...
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. |
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