Will ducks eat my fish?

I just walked out to see two ducks in my pond. My godfish range from 6 to 8
inches. Should I be concerned?

TIA Randy

By the way, it's a male and female mallard
Randy
"Randy" wrote in message
news:OOZgc.29713$yD1.79663@attbi_s54...
I just walked out to see two ducks in my pond. My godfish range from 6 to
8
inches. Should I be concerned?

TIA Randy

Randy wrote I just walked out to see two ducks in my pond. My godfish range
from 6 to
8 inches. Should I be concerned?

Not really. They can eat fish but they aren't
very good at it and their diet doesn't require enough protein to take care of
all your fish.

The thing that ducks do contribute to a pond is massive amounts of duck poo -
way out of proportion to the amount of food they take in.
They can be heck on a filter and the water quality of a pond, the smaller the
pond the harder they are on it.

Usually harrassment will convince ducks to move on. Borrowing a friendly
labrador will do the trick too.


kathy :-)
(still use ka30p for email
this acct. is for reading rec.ponds only)

Randy wrote I just walked out to see two ducks in my pond. My godfish range
from 6 to
8 inches. Should I be concerned?

Not really. They can eat fish but they aren't
very good at it and their diet doesn't require enough protein to take care of
all your fish.

The thing that ducks do contribute to a pond is massive amounts of duck poo -
way out of proportion to the amount of food they take in.
They can be heck on a filter and the water quality of a pond, the smaller the
pond the harder they are on it.

Usually harrassment will convince ducks to move on. Borrowing a friendly
labrador will do the trick too.


kathy :-)
(still use ka30p for email
this acct. is for reading rec.ponds only)

Should I be concerned?

Mallards will and do eat small fish. They break off the fins and remove enough
scales to kill the larger fish. If the pond is deep enough the ducks don't have
a good chance grabbing fish. Scales are almost all calcium and you may notice
the female with more fish in her mouth.
I was hit early in the season when the water was cold and the fish slow. The
tails were chewed off ranchu to comets, it didn't matter what size pond. The
deeper the safer; 24" plus.
Last season when the water was lowered for cleaning, ducks ate every top
quality fry and killed the adults. It wasn't until I saw the female with a huge
ryukin in her mouth that I solved the mystery. The ducks were so tame I could
get within reach of their necks.

Should I be concerned?

Mallards will and do eat small fish. They break off the fins and remove enough
scales to kill the larger fish. If the pond is deep enough the ducks don't have
a good chance grabbing fish. Scales are almost all calcium and you may notice
the female with more fish in her mouth.
I was hit early in the season when the water was cold and the fish slow. The
tails were chewed off ranchu to comets, it didn't matter what size pond. The
deeper the safer; 24" plus.
Last season when the water was lowered for cleaning, ducks ate every top
quality fry and killed the adults. It wasn't until I saw the female with a huge
ryukin in her mouth that I solved the mystery. The ducks were so tame I could
get within reach of their necks.

By the way, it's a male and female mallard
Randy
"Randy" wrote in message
news:OOZgc.29713$yD1.79663@attbi_s54...
I just walked out to see two ducks in my pond. My godfish range from 6 to
8
inches. Should I be concerned?

TIA Randy