Spooked Fish

My wife and I went away for a week, only
to come home and find my fish hiding on the
bottom of the pond, between pots, etc.
I suspected a heron was on the prow, but
had no proof until my wife saw him fly away
a couple of days later. It doesn't look like "Mr
Heron" was able to snag any fish but I think word
has spread to my "swimming friends" not to surface.
It's been two weeks now and they STILL aren't
frolicking on the surface like they used to. They
aren't even coming up to eat when I throw them
food.
My concern is that they will get sick from not
eating, from what I can see, or get stressed out
and start developing sores. Do I have reason to
be concerned or will they survive this harrowing
experience and go back to entertaining us as
before. In the meantime, I have blocked the
Heron's path to the pond.
ShoDog

if you havent sent the herons packing then the fish are getting scared again.
try feeding at dusk. or even put a light on after dark (rope lights) and feed them
then. whatever you put in, it will eventually sink and they will get the food.
Ingrid

"Jazzman" wrote:

My wife and I went away for a week, only
to come home and find my fish hiding on the
bottom of the pond, between pots, etc.
I suspected a heron was on the prow, but
had no proof until my wife saw him fly away
a couple of days later. It doesn't look like "Mr
Heron" was able to snag any fish but I think word
has spread to my "swimming friends" not to surface.
It's been two weeks now and they STILL aren't
frolicking on the surface like they used to. They
aren't even coming up to eat when I throw them
food.
My concern is that they will get sick from not
eating, from what I can see, or get stressed out
and start developing sores. Do I have reason to
be concerned or will they survive this harrowing
experience and go back to entertaining us as
before. In the meantime, I have blocked the
Heron's path to the pond.
ShoDog







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

If the heron isn't coming back they will come up eventually. But it takes some
time. I would not worry about them getting enough to eat.
I'll post the heron hints in case you've got a particularly determined heron:

Tips for herons, egrets and other fishing birds:
- bird netting over the pond
- put in an pond shock fence
- a motion activated sprinkler
(go to froogle.com to find these products)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

good luck!
kathy :-)
A HREF="http://www.onceuponapond.com/"Once upon a pond/A

On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 09:59:54 -0400, "Jazzman" wrote:

My wife and I went away for a week, only
to come home and find my fish hiding on the
bottom of the pond, between pots, etc.
I suspected a heron was on the prow, but
had no proof until my wife saw him fly away
a couple of days later. It doesn't look like "Mr
Heron" was able to snag any fish but I think word
has spread to my "swimming friends" not to surface.
It's been two weeks now and they STILL aren't
frolicking on the surface like they used to. They
aren't even coming up to eat when I throw them
food.
My concern is that they will get sick from not
eating, from what I can see, or get stressed out
and start developing sores. Do I have reason to
be concerned or will they survive this harrowing
experience and go back to entertaining us as
before. In the meantime, I have blocked the
Heron's path to the pond.
ShoDog




It took over 3 weeks for my fish to begin showing up again after a
heron visit, so don't sweat it.

If you have floating plants in the pond they'll eat the roots, plus
algae from the pond sides. I see mine do it all the time. AAMOF I only
feed every other day or so, forcing the fish to forage a bit. (I have
a lot of plants now.)


Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody. I should have been more specific..."