My fish are eating my water lilies

[patty1952]

So this year we got the pond clean and going nicely, I bought a couple of new water lilies and and umbrella palm, my pond was looking beautiful. But then we gat a giant snapping turtle in our pond. When I say giant, I mean at least 18 inches in diameter, and our pond is only 4 X 8' and about 2000 gallons. The turtle ate almost all the fish(which are all common pond fish) and ate all the water lilies. My husband managed to wrestle the trutle out of the pond, and found some more fish in the stream behind our house. None of the fish are bigger than about 6 nches long. And the water lillies started to grow back. But the fish are eating all the water lilies and they aren't coming back again. Any Ideas?

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

• Where do you live?
• “This year you got the pond clean and going nicely” — how old is the pond and what kind of issues did it previously have?
• Is this a lined pond or a natural pond?
• You replaced the fish that the snapping turtle ate with “common pond fish” from a stream behind your house.
• And now the water lilies are being eaten by the fish?
• What kind of fish are they?
• Are you sure it’s the fish that are eating them?
• And how deep is your 4’x8’ pond? A POND THIS SIZE WOULD HAVE TO BE OVER 6 FEET DEEP, IN ORDER FOR IT TO BE 2000 GALLONS!
• Do you have the water lilies planted at the correct depth? If they are too deep, they won’t thrive.
• How many of these “6 inch” “common pond fish” are in the pond?
• Is there any filtration?
• PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES FOR US!

 

[Stephen Noble]

Welcome to the forum! Hum. Well, deer, ducks, turtles & grass carp come to mind for eating healthy lilies. Snails will eat old, dying leaves. One other thought, are the lilies actually being eaten or just dying back from some other cause?
Stephen

 

[addy1]

Welcome to our group. I see my fish nibbling on the stems, but just eating the algae that is growing.

 

[Lisak1]

Welcome @patty1952 ! This is indeed an intriguing situation! The last thing you'd want to find in your pond is a big ole snapper! Kudos to your husband for having the nerve to get him out!

And yes - do fill in the blanks for us. What kind of fish? What kind of pond? And how sure are you of those dimensions?