I am new pond owner having constructed a 1100 gal garden pond with two waterfalls this spring. I have surface about half covered with floaters and lillys. My fish population consisted of 11 goldfish from three to five inches.

To protect the fish from herons (we live on a 100 acre lake with a small heron population) I have the pond encircled with two strands of 20 lb test fish line at 8" and 20" in height and two strands crossing the top about three feet over the surface. I have noticed no disturbance in these lines or the vegitation in the pond. The pond is roughly 11 X 6 and 36" deep with shelve along one side. Bottom has river rock.

A fish has simply disappeared. Earlier (a few weeks ago) one of my fish died and I found it floating on the surface. The remaining fish are very active, not spooked, and doing well. I have also noticed a few very small fish in the pond that can only be offspring as I did not add them to the population.

My question is: Do fish always float to the surface when they die? Do some fish simply not feed and stay on the bottom out of sight for days?