Heron Attack!

[BConzelman]

Hello everyone, new here. I had a question, I have a koi pond that HAD 12 beautiful butterfly koi, in a matter of days they were all gone. I originally thought they were hiding but am now convinced after weeks of looking that they are gone. I believe it was a heron as there are no half eaten fish or signs or struggle etc.

I have had goldfish in the past that were mystersiouly taken so I used a fake gator, upped my plant surface coverage, used fishing line around the pond, added a koi castle etc etc etc to stop this predator, but to no avail. I finally lost my wits after this Heron made off with 200 dollars worth of koi and regaled to buying a net to put over the pond (which I hate but am out of ideas).

I dont plan on buying any new koi till next year as I dont see any point in putting them in before the winter (I live outside Philadelphia). My question is this: Do I have to get a net that the holes are so small in diameter? I've seen them at about .25 inch. I had some rebarb posts around the pond that I set up to wrap the fising line around adn was looking for a net that I could put on top of that but they dont fit. It would be alot easier to put/take off the net over the rebarb for maintenance et.c I was thinking of like a crab net but dont know where to get them. (15'x15')

Also would a net with larger opening even prevent Heron attacks? Any/all suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

I should add that I inherited this pond when I bought my house and it has been a huge money pit, but I love it. If I could only keep the koi in it would be great.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BConzelman]

My mistake I will move this to the correct forum 'water gardens'

 

[ididntdoit99]

I just bought some stuff at menards this weekend, Deer Fence they called it, its black, and comes in a 7x100 foot roll for like $15... the holes in it are small maybe .250 or .375 (i cant really remember even though i just looked at it a few days ago)

anyways... since it was 7 foot, I had to cut two pieces and just zip tie them together, but it works great and didnt cost much, I did mine because I was trying to catch the leaves so i didnt have to scoop them out of the pond. And it really doesnt look too bad either. and the holes are big enough i can still just throw a handful of food and it goes right through the net into the water.