All the fish are gone!

[MariaTeresa]

It seems the herons have discovered our sushi bar...I mean pond...and all our fish are gone! One disappeared a few days ago and the remaining two would not leave the bottom of the pond. Whenever someone came to the side they would just freeze up. With the nice clear water they were perfect targets. The pond is 3ft deep, but with a 16" planting shelf. Too easy for the herons.

The pond needs fish to control the mosquito population. Are there any fish herons don't eat or can't catch? Little ones or dark ones or fast ones? If the water were green or dyed black would that make it harder for herons to go fishing? Would one of those fake alligator heads help?

I knew we were in the flight path of our local herons, they fly over morning and night. I was hoping since the pond is tucked under a large norway spruce that they wouldn't see it.

 

[addy1]

I keep mine netted, wide weave (5 inch sqs) net high up, heron has not stopped by in 2 years now. We too are in their flight path.

You could put in some rosey reds, little minnows, harder for them to catch.
The alligator head worked, make sure it is tied to a fishing line on a rock in the middle of the pond so it floats around, changes position. Mine worked for a while but with the lilies it trapped the head so it stayed in one spot, the heron fished from there, stayed away from the one in the free water deep end. I gave up and did the net. around 3 feet off the water, not real noticeable

 

[Tula]

So sorry about the loss of your fish! After reading so many posts about this, I'm of the opinion if you have fish, you need a net or dogs. We have big dogs, but I'd not hesitate to net if I saw a heron. Again, so sorry about the loss of your fish.

 

[johan]

I used a velda electric fence for 4 years and it deterred the great blue winged beast. Have now changed over to non electric version - now overgrown enough that the possible standing places are very blockable.

I think that's maybe the problem with yours though, easy to see, in the middle of low vegetation, nice shallow walking areas for the beast. Seems like a net might be necessary, and if that's a nono, lots more covered hiding places or just fishing tackle threaded over the pond in all sorts of beast-annoying ways.

 

[Mmathis]

I agree with Rosie Red Minnows. They are small, active, and reproduce readily.

 

[MariaTeresa]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Netting isn't an option. The pond is more valuable to us without fish than with fish but covered in netting.
Tula, we have a big dog, but she's not very helpful. She would probably be afraid of the heron. We can't do the fishing line because the dog would get tripped up in it. She thinks the pond is her personal water bowl.

I was thinking rosy reds, or maybe even just brown minnows. They'd eat the larvae but be harder to see and catch (I hope).

 

[MariaTeresa]

Just checked and the two goldfish are back!

I had checked everywhere, but maybe there is a liner fold somewhere they were hiding in. They never hide like that, so maybe the heron had come back and was foiled! Either way, I sunk a pot for them as extra protection, since the heron certainly got the third goldfish a few days ago. Yay!

 

[milhousebarks]

If you get the Rosy Reds at a pet store that sells them as food for other fish, they probably have some of the non-Rosy minnows mixed in, which will probably be less obvious to herons and other predators. They are the same fish, with the brown ones being the "normal" version of the native fathead minnow.

 

[RobAmy]

Sorry about your fish, glad to hear at least 2 made it

 

[johan]

There are all sorts of things you can buy that supposedly scare off the great winged beast. From shiny balls that intimidate them with their own reflection, to fake herons perching. I can't remember where but I've even seen a device that shoots water jets when the beast approaches, a device that the local neighbourhood cats are less than thrilled about I should imagine. I really don't know if any of these actually work though, I suspect they're mainly there for warm and fuzzy pond owner feelings =).

 

[haver79]

Glad there were a couple of survivors!

 

[johan]

Hehe, had something similar this morning. The Orfe were all at the bottom and visible when I went out and had my morning coffee beside the pond, but only one of the 10 big fat goldfish! Half an hour later and I was sure the beast had had its way, but I poked with a bamboo stick round the weed and they all showed themselves. They seem to have taken a fancy to hiding in a big planter under the floating weeds, I don't know if this is mating behaviour or just hidey hole behaviour, but they're all perfectly ok =).

 

[addy1]

The hatchery people have chimney flues in their mud ponds for the fish to hide in. And the muddy water helps too! Mine tend to stay in the five foot area, now and then head to the shallows, but usually are in the deep area of the pond.

In the stock tank they hide under the water fall rock or under the lilies.

 

[johan]

Yeah - I think my like the (plantless) planter because it's right underneath a huge mass of floating pondweed, the cheap elodia stuff. I grabbed 10 buckets of the stuff from a relative's lake over the weekend and threw it in my pond for protection. I need to do a few more weedruns - I have 10 pots of various sizes on the bottom with just sludge and gravel but nothing growing in them - fish ate it all last winter I think.