I am a gardening fanatic

[NancyMc]

My entire summer is spent in the garden (except when I have to work). We have a large yard and a large formal pond. I think I am able to post pictures on this site and will do so at some point. Here in Winnipeg Canada, we have to shut our ponds down in fall, which means taking out plants and fish. I have a winter pond for them in the basement.
Our problem is retrieving the fish from the rocks and very large river wash in the pond. Inevitably, some are mashed in the process which is very sad and probably some get stuck in the rocks and are never found. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

Nancy

 

[sissy]

welcome and hope you post pics because we are not only ponding nuts we are plant nuts too .I don't have rocks in my pong nd if you read on you will find none of us has rocks (well except for knocked in ones )

 

[anitapond]

When I first built my pond 3 years ago, I was told by Aquascape that the best thing you can do is line your entire pond with rocks. Aquascape still teaches this practice. However, just a few weeks ago I decided to take out most of the rocks in my pond because I had been having fish deaths every week (long story that I won't get into now). In order to remove the rocks and pebbles I had in the pond, I had to drain my entire pond and remove my fish. I read many articles on the internet and they all said the easiest way to catch your fish is to drain your pond until only about 6-8 inches of water remains. This is what I did, and it did work. However, I have a rock ledge where my waterfall is, and after I drained my pond I heard "flapping" noises - like a fish out of water! I couldn't see any fish stuck in the rocks. So I continued to rinse out my pond with tap (city, chlorinated) water. I waited until I had about 10 inches of dirty, mucky water in the bottom before I used my pump to pump it out. As I was pumping and getting to the last inch of chlorinated, muddy water, the fish that were stuck in the rocks appeared - only inches away from the pump intake! In a panic, I immediately unplugged the pump and netted the fish. I am glad to say they survived the toxic, chlorinated, swamp water.

How are you going about catching your fish? How big are your fish and your pond? I know if I didn't drain any of the water out of my pond, I would never be able to catch my fish with a net (only a hook and a worm! )

 

[sissy]

I don't take my fish in and no need to as long as your pond is deep enough and you keep an opening in the ice they will be fine as they hibernate in the winter and rocks in your pond is just asking for bad things to happen .Gasses build up fish die .If you take your fish in for the winter it is better to keep one pump pumping water down your waterfall until you are sure no fish are there .In Ohio if your pond is at least 4 or 5 feet deep you can keep a hole in the ice and maybe buy a deicer you should be fine .Some people still prefer to take there fish in just in case electric goes off .

 

[addy1]

Welcome to the group, I don't remove my fish, but we are warmer than you. You may want to remove the rocks, they can cause a lot of issues down the road. And it will make it easier to get your fish out for the winter.

 

[Waterbug]

I drained a pond once, it didn't have any rocks. It was a nightmare because of the muck and some fish got sucked into the pump and were lost. I'd never do it again. I was in that pond until 2am because I couldn't leave the fish and the whole time wishing I'd never listened to the "experts". It was a turning point for me and I've been much more skeptical of common wisdom and experts.

If removing the fish is a yearly chore perhaps building a corral would help. I mortar rocks in place so that would solve the fish getting into voids. Then maybe create an open area, leaving bare liner, in the deepest part where the fish would naturally collect.

Once rocks are mortared you can vacuum and keep the pond spotless so the water would be a little more clear, or at least not thick with muck.

I am a recovering gardening fanatic.

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome!

 

[ididntdoit99]

Welcome Nancy!

Funny thing, Waterbugs post reminded me of... I drained my pond last year to bring my fish inside, the next day I went outside to give it a good scrubbing and found black goldfish laying on its side in a tiny puddle of water, and he actually survived!!!! That water had to be close to freezing overnight, but he made it.

Nancy, Im not exactly sure how you are retrieving the fish from your pond, but i would imagine if you have rocks in your pond, its going to be very difficult to find them all.

 

[sissy]

It's like bobbing for apples