NOW I know why my fish keep disappearing.

For the last four years I've tried to keep fish in my two ponds, but they keep disappearing. I'd had a pond at my previous house so when I bought this house, a pond was a necessity. Foolishly, I stocked it with exotic beauties I'd bought on the internet and had shipped air-express. Within two weeks, only one small fish remained. Undaunted, I bought some small koi at a local pet store and re-stocked the pond, only to have them disappear within a few days.

I wanted fish to keep down the mosquito population, so I bought a sack of 10-cent feeders and threw them in. They seemed ok, lasted the rest of the summer and reproduced. The next spring, they were bigger and seemed like I'd solved the problem - then they began disappearing.

I thought it might be a raccoon, but I never could see any evidence. One day I saw a pre-historic looking bird flying around above my house. From my seat on the patio, I saw it land in the top of a tree in front of my house - I'd never seen anything like it, but when I described it to a friend, he said, "It must be a heron. I'm surprised he would venture into town though - they usually stay in the country by lakes and streams." That was two years ago. Two or three times each year I buy bags of 'feeders' and put them in both ponds (I have two now) and watch the fish become accustomed to me, come when I feed them, then lose them as they get larger.

Last week I was in my kitchen when I looked out the window and saw this predator land. I grabbed my camera and took a couple photos before he got 'spooked' and flew off. Now I KNOW who's eating my fish! (I'm told herons are protected by state law, so I won't discourage him - the pet store owner who sells me 'feeders' says herons have discovered urban centers ALSO contain ponds, where the hunting is easy and the catch is TASTY.)

Another shot of the heron scoping out my pond.

Sorry about your fish, love the heron though :-(

Cover your pond with netting, get a scare crow sprinkler system. Shoot em! Do something!!!

Had one swooping over this afternoon. Rats with wings.

Arghh darn herons! Totally there with you. Had several fish that I'd begun to love disappear. At least you have proof now, right? Don't shoot it, wouldn't want to hear about you getting locked up! lol, but netting seems to work till the bugger moves on.
Lol Snapple to rats with wings! So true...

yes, netting is the thing to do. All sorts of things will get your fish otherwise - cats, raccoons, etc........... of course your Heron may scare them off lol
And to think, some people have statues of herons!

As I mentioned on another thread, we have strung fishing line tied tightly and criss crossed around all of the edges of the ponds... it seems to be working. We've still had some attempts by the herons, but they don't seem to be able to get in the ponds now (knocking wood!).

Brenda

Herons....the number one threat to fish ponds! I've dealt with them for years, even though we live surrounded by ample lakes!
Herons are lazy birds though, so if they have to work hard for their meal, they would rather move on.
A)You can net your pond with simple bird netting for fruit trees. After a few weeks, they usually move on to an area that is easier to get to.
B) Steep sided walls inside your pond make it hard for the herons wander around eyeballing their prey. Eliminate plant shelves and sloped openings. Deeper water helps immensely, as they are wading birds only, and won't go deeper than the top of their legs where they meet the feathers.
C) A "Scarecrow" sprayer, which has a sensor and hooks to your hose, blasts them with water when they cross the sensor beam.

Watching herons take extremely expensive fish, with one swallow, is why I only by cheaper koi now. Pretty to me, don't really care if they are show quality, I never plan to show them anyway.

:)

All great suggestions. I'm hesitant to do the net thing - I dislike the look and I enjoy having the lotus and water lily blooms. A friend suggested heron are territorial, so I have a couple lead heron statues (designed as fountains, but I won't hook them up) I may put in my pond as decoys.

I'm afraid I have heron statues all over my ponds....the herons just ignore them....
The netting looks back for a few weeks, and then you can remove it again, until the herons return. I bought 1x2's this year, and stapled the netting to a frame I made out of them. flat and tight. It didn't show as much as being draped all over the bushes, etc.

I guess the only solution is to buy small fish in large quantities!

actually, the heron statues tend to deter live herons.... 'cause the pond is already inhabited by another heron..... so the live heron moves on......

The local wildlife officer says to staple metallic mylar ribbon streamers to stakes at various places around the pond. When they flutter in the breeze they are supposed to scare off the herons. Havn't tried it. I'm going to have to do something soon as one perched on the neighbors garage roof again yesterday checking things out. It's just a matter of time. I can't net. Too many tropical water lilys. It's herons by day and raccoons by night! I swear there is a sign somewhere that says - Go There! Fish Buffet - All you can catch.

I agree! I feel like I'm fighting nature - squirrels keep breaking down my topiary hibiscus limbs and topiary hydrangea limbs by climbing up the trunks and jumping on the branches, rabbits devour echinacea and liatris as fast as I plant it and the heron (and possibly a raccoon) clean out my ponds.

For the rabbits, I use Liquid Fence with good results...

My rabbits must be immune. I have sprayed gallons of liquid fence and they treat it like salad dressing!

oh, bummer!

Sorry about your fish Leawood, but your yard and pond lovely, great job :)

Yes, I was going to say what a beautiful pond. We have egrets here more than heron - though we've seen one or two. DH built the pond for the small birds and wildlife, so we don't want to get rid of the "beach." We did get a scarecrow and it seems to be helping. Also scares off the crows. We didn't like losing the fish, but mainly we wanted to deter the egrets because they frighten our parrots when they land and take off. Those wings are BIG.

Sorry about the fish. I lost some of mine this year to a heron. First time. I netted the pond, then after about 3 weeks of no heron activity, I rolled the plastic netting into large rolls and placed them around the perimeter, still no heron. They are not too terribly unattractive, but I plan to do the 'fishing line' thing for a more permanent fix.

Well. I waited too long to net. The heron cleaned out 6 of 8 goldfish in the small pond and injured tow small koi in the big pond. I've had those fish for 7 yrs. My own stupid fault. The small pond is now netted (and restocked). The injured small koi in the big pond eat and behave normally despite some big gashes on the head. It is not possible to net the big pond. It covers too much real estate and there are blooming tropical and hardy water lilys. The big pond as a large area 3-1/2' deep where the koi can easily get out of reach. It must have been a sneak attack when the small ones were in the shallow area. I going to get a decoy and try that. In the mean time I have placed plastic lawn chairs in the shallow area where the heron might have waded. Looks stupid but who cares.

awwwwwwwww snapple - too bad about your long-time resident koi...
Is there a certain time the heron shows up ie: early spring or something? Or is it an all-growing-season type of thing?

If it's only short-term, then the netting won't look so bad......
And don't go putting yourself down - could happen to anyone :-)

I forget, Snapple, did you try the fishing line? Several people have had good luck with that tactic and it won't interfere with your plants too much. They say you can hardly see it.

Thanks, Tallulah41. Heron's usually migrate through here and pair up in late spring. They are active all summer. I've read that two weeks of continous discouragement will cause them to move somewhere else. So - I think I could just as easily later get another heron kicked out of another pond! I'll have to take precautions until they move out in the fall. I'm gonna miss some of those fish real bad. It's a Federal offense to harm this bird in any way, but I can understand why some people around here with big ponds stocked with sport fish resort to getting out the shot gun. A heron can clean out a pond in no time. Me - I'll stick with my netting, plastic lawn chairs sitting in the shallow area, and a decoy that I move several times a day. But don't ask me how careful I'd be if one got tangled up in the net.

Nope - havn't tried the fishing line. The big pond is 25 X 30 with hardscaping around the perimeter. That makes it hard to find places to put stakes to hold the fishing line. We would have to walk through or over the line just to feed the fish or clean the skimnmer. I fell in once last year. I don't want a repeat performance. I had algae up my shorts!

eeewwwww...

How 'bout the water scarecrow?

This message was edited Jun 16, 2008 5:01 PM

well, here's hoping you can discourage for 2 weeks then, and that the heron read that book lol

You're a tenacious person, that's for sure!! good luck!

- Susan -

Lol snapple! The 'algae up my shorts' even got a giggle out of my DH when I was laughing out loud and he asked what was so funny :)

Sorry to hear about your fish, I completely feel your pain. I still have sadness when I look at my pond after losing my favorite 2 (plus 6 others) koi about a month ago. Do you feel somewhat safe knowing that your pond is deep enough for them to hide, so long as there are no more sneak attacks? I have plenty of hiding spots for my fish now (after the fact) but still wake up in the middle of the night and wonder... Darn herons!!

Speaking of herons being protected though, don't you think they have come back in full force since being protected? I never EVER remember seeing them when I was younger, and now at the lake my parents live at, we see at least 6 every time we go out on the lake. Hmmm...

Yes, I'm convinced that the deep area kept some of the koi out of reach. But the little guys like to lay up in the shallow part and that's where they were most vulnerable. I have a koi castle too but they all can't get under it at once. I'm all for a hunting season on herons.

Ah, snapple, that's really sad and I'm sorry to hear it. My fish like to hang out in the shallow water too, where it's nice and warm and it gives me a bit of a chill to see them there. Do you have lots of marginal plants in the shallows? I have heard that around here, where they live all year round, they will go further afield to hunt when they are mating and raising chicks. So it's really the early spring when they are out looking around. I haven't seen any evidence of heron activity around my pond since I put the net rolls around it. Looks about as good as your lawn chairs but I'm with you. Who cares? I just want my fish to be safe.

Your idea of leaving the netting in rolls around the perimeter is one I intend to use Pixydish. I have to get quite a bit of netting but fortunately it's not all that espensive. My DH thinks your idea is the best permanent solution. I'm going to cut the netting up and kind of make loose sausages out of it. I'll store it that way and it will be ready to roll out every spring. I can move a sausage out of my way to get to the pond to do what I have to do.

I do have water lilys that grow to cover the shallow parts but it didn't seem to make any difference. Our local pond and fish supply store puts random balls of nylon filter material in the shallow areas of their show ponds to discourage wading herons. Once it's algae covered it doesnt look too bad. It's called "Quick Clean Bio Media". It really didn't look all that bad. It also adds some additional filtration.

http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/pondandgardenwholesalers/the-229/bio-filter-media-filler/Detail

The netting I am using I get at Lowes in the outdoor section. It's really cheap, black plastic netting I think intended to keep birds off of fruit trees or something on that order.
I think my fish are vulnerable in the shallows in spite of the plants. This year I reduced the amount of shallow water I have because of that.
Here is a photo of the 'sausages'. You can see one shubunkin (the one that keeps hoping the koi will mate with him since his main squeeze was eaten by a heron) in the shallows and one koi peeking out from under the rocks. They still stay under the rocks during most of the day since there is no plant cover. Our spring has been so cold that the lilies are hardly growing.

Boy, you have a beautiful pond.

You won't believe this but I lost another fish last night from the big pond with the heron decoy. I got a small platinum koi yesterday. It disappeared. At first I thought it was just hiding somewhere. I thought I was Ok because it was the first day of the heron decoy. I could have not been more wrong. I am tired of paying for fish only to have them wind up a pile of bird poop somewhere. Now, I'm working on the nets just like yours. I am so darn disgusted. At me mostly.

This message was edited Jun 17, 2008 5:22 PM

OOH!! Sorry to hear it! The heron got my beautiful platinum with ginrin scales. Her name was Twinkle. I just hate that. I have been afraid to replace any of mine yet, but I definitely want another platinum with the ginrin scales. She was just so pretty in the water. Here is a photo of her before her demise. All of the speckled shubunkins in the photo were also taken around the same time. The large koi in the foreground is still safe, for which I am grateful because I've had Nishiki since he was very very small.

I know your pain. I went out to the pond this morning at first light. No casualties or injuries. Whew! Really I think its just that there isn't anything left small enough to eat. We have only managed to partially net the back pond around the shallow areas. More net going in place today.

That platinum GinRin must have been gorgeous.

Yes, she was such a pretty girl. Very graceful and delicate looking. Sorry you have to succumb to netting but it's for the best. Maybe the herons will learn that it's not worthwhile to bother your ponds anymore.

Just finding out that we are having heron activity. I thought that some of the smaller baby koi were missing, but DH kept saying they were under the lily pads.

A couple of things surprise me about this - we have steep sides on our pond with the shallower end being 3.5 ft deep and the deeper end being 4 ft. There is really no where for a heron to stand other than on the dry land. The other thing that surprises me is that the fish haven't been acting afraid. I have read in other posts where the koi are afraid and tend to hide after an attack.

Can somebody give me more information on the fish line? I thought I saw something on it a while ago. It goes across the pond in criss crosses - correct? We are 12 ft wide, so I am wondering how this can be done.

One other thing that I was wondering - are birds afraid of bobcat urine? I know that it is used to deter deer and the like, but I was wondering if it would help to sprinkle the bobcat urine around the pond.

Your thoughts?

Thanks
Carolyn

How do you get the bobcat to cooperate? Mine hates that.

Seriously - put stakes in the ground around the outside of the pond. Then just string the line it tightly from stake to stake across the pond in a grid fashion. Have someone stand on the other side and toss the roll back and forth - carefully.

Snapple,

Thank you so much for your reply. I am hoping it isn't long before the heron moves on.

As to the bobcat..... well, I work with a few and we know how that goes........

Thanks again.
Carolyn