Shelter for fish in winter....

[MikeC1955]

Hi all, I wonder if you might advise me? I have a small (8' x 4') pond that has goldfish in - perhaps a dozen or so small ones, and one that has been there for a few years and is about 6" long. This Spring, I suffered a leak in the pond. I eventually traced it to a tear in the liner, patched it up and all now seems well. Through the process of finding the leak, I took the time to prune the plants I had which had really started to take over and were quite unsightly. I have put new plants in but they're a long way from providing any shelter for my fish from marauding herons. I have well-established lilys in the pond and through the summer, the leaves have given the fish lots of shelter (from said herons) but, of course, those leaves are now dying away.

This will leave the fish very exposed and I wonder if there was a sort of "quick fix" I could do to put something in the pond that would quickly start to cover the surface. Ideally, I'd like to take it all out in Spring and let the lily leaves do their work.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any replies

Mike

 

[mrsclem]

The only quick fix is to cover the pond with netting. Most of the floating plants die back in the winter.

 

[Hound Heaven]

I have added some of these from a discount store with holes enlarged and a rock on top to keep it in place. They do seem to enjoy having a place to hide.

 

[j.w]

@MikeC1955
Get a net soon as the heron will be back and take all your fish! Make sure to raise the net up on posts so the heron can't stab at the net and injure your fish. My net stays on 24/7 all year long, otherwise I would have no fish!

 

[bagsmom]

If a net isn't something you want to do, I have heard people say they use terra cotta chimney pipes. They make a nice hiding place!