jugglingeek Wrote:
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://tinyurl.com/amhwn

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


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!


--
Koitoy