My dad and I have just built a pond for the purpose of keeping koi
carp. 4000 gallons of water. It was hard work digging the hole let me
tell you

http://hompage.ntlworld.com/jugglingeek1/pond.jpeg

That's a picture of it.

We havn't put any fish in it yet but this evening I looked out of the
window and to my suprise saw a herren (spelling?) eyeing up the pond.
This was wierd coz I have never seen a herren in my life. I know that
these birds like to eat fish and don't generaly discriminate over how
much you have paid for them.

The pond will have sharp edges coz we are putting flag stones round the
whole thing, and the shallowest point is a shelf we have for plants
about 12 inches deep.

What more can we do to stop these birds eating our fish once we put
fish in the pond.

Jugglingeek

By the way this is my first time posting on rec.ponds but I'm a regular
on rec.juggling

google said this wasn't going to appear so
I'll try it again.

Couldn't get the picture to open, I'll try again
later.

There are several options for herons
- netting, the kind you can buy to protect fruit trees
- electric FiShock Fido fence placed around the pond
- motion activated sprinklers, sometimes two are needed

All these methods work but it all depends on your particular yard, how
your pond is situated in the yard and
the bird who is visiting you.

Let us know what you try and how it works for you!

kathy :-)
www.blogfromthebog.com

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jugglingeek1/pond.jpeg

try this. I hear that creating a trip wire using fishing liine can get
rid of herrens is this true.

The pond keepers that I know of that used fishing
line successfully had their pond inbetween two
greenhouses - a case of how your pond is situated
makes the difference. Another pond keeper used
fishing line to block the only area that the heron was
able to land in his yard - probably was very small
and lots of trees and tall bushes.

The picture did open up for me this time!
You've got a pretty wide open space and a nice
big pond.
Forgot to add, when I reposted that herons will
stand on top of plant baskets that looks like will
go on your shelf there.

There is an electric fence out there called
The Pond Guardian Electric Pond Fence,
enter those words in www.froogle.com and
it will come up. It is designed to attach to rocks
and lay out over the water. The way your rocks
are set up it might not be too hard of a job to
do. You might take a look at it. It is pretty
pricey though.

Putting a dog electric fence around it might work
but the heron could glide in and land on a plant
basket. They've even been known to land and float
around like a duck (not very dignified but a hungry
heron is a desperate heron).

You could try some combination of fishing line
first, it would be cheap, at least and you might
hit on a combination that works.

The heron's habit is to land away from its target
and very slowly move up to it, so as to not scare
its prey. You've got a lot of landing room and approach
there to work with... but it can't hurt to try!

kathy :-)
www.blogfromtheblog.com

Congrats on your new pond. Herons can be a real threat to your pond fish- many people use pond netting over their pond until they feel the heron has moved on- some use motion detection sprinklers, some use very low voltage type electric barriers. When you build a pond you take risks, such as herons, raccoons, leaks, and other unexpected calamities that can take your fish. I try to always remember that and not get too crazy in protecting my pond so that I can still enjoy it. I also try to think about how much I love the critters that show up at my pond, such as birds, chipmunks, the occasional pair of ducks, ect.

I suggest you get some cheap small Koi from the pet shop. I got mine for like $8 and now they are over 24" long. Sure they are valuable now- but if something happened to them, I would hope to get new ones. Koi require a lot of upkeep when they are big. They are big poop makers who love clean well oxygenated water. So you might want to consider that when stocking your pond. They grow big very fast. Comets breed a lot- you can get literally hundreds of babies that will get to 3-4" over one summer. So keep that in mind.

Have fun with your new pond. It is a great hobby that can turn in to an obsession for a lot of folks. Hope this info helps. Happy ponding!

jugglingeek wrote:


What more can we do to stop these birds eating our fish once we put
fish in the pond.

Congradulations on your new pond (I can relate to how much digging was
involved - when I did mine it took a week to dig and a week to recover.

I would suggest the a combination of Water Scarecrow
(http://www.comforthouse.com/comfort/scarecrows1.html)

And make sure that your fish have a choice of places to hide.
I used pieces of slate proped on rocks under water to form "caves" for
the fish but people also use other things such as flower pots or Chimney
tiles. The idea being the Scarecrow will maybe frighten off the heron
(or anoy him enough to leave) and alert the fish to hide.

I also only feed my fish at night so as not to encourage them to be out
begginng during the day and presenting tempting targets.

And BTW herons are in deed VERY "discriminating over how much you have
paid for [your fish]". They always make sure to take your most
expensive/favorite fish - Raccoons do the same.

Another idea that I have read about but not tried is a brightly coloured
fish decoy that you ancor to the bottom of your pond.
The Heron strikes for this nice brightly coloured "fish" and your real
fish get to bolt off to hide. Have a look at
http://store.watergardenweb.com/dekoi.html I dont recommend this
company - just one I googled up at random to show you the idea.

Good luck.

On 22 May 2005 15:10:36 -0700, "jugglingeek"
wrote:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jugglingeek1/pond.jpeg

try this. I hear that creating a trip wire using fishing liine can get
rid of herrens is this true.

Nice looking start. :-) Since you haven't rewarded the heron by putting
fish in, you'll have an easier time "training" it. I recommend the Heron
Scarer "fake fish" You can get them thru www.aqua-mart.com for ~$4/each,
I'd buy several of those and one motion sprinkler from:
http://www.km01.com/gardeninghome.html Click on Scarecrow. Both have worked
well for me. ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
www.jjspond.us

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

I would put up netting and anchor it under your edging. and a water
scarecrow for extra measure. the hiding place is also critical, I am sure
that is why I have any fish left from my neighborhood egret - they didn't
come out of the cave under the waterfall for at least a week.

HERON

--
____________________
Claudia
Totus Tuus