So what's the secret?

[butterflycld]

How do you get plants in your pond? I have a 300 gallon pond (just recently upgraded from a 30 gallon) and my fish always eat the plants. I feed them pretty much daily and they still gobble up the plants. The only thing I have been able to keep is my lily pad. Any suggestions? Anyone else have this problem? I also don't want a bunch of floating plants, I like to see my fish for the most part. Any help is great!

 

[kilty55]

if you have koi in your pond they will mostly destroy plants constantly,,most koi ponds dont have many plants.

 

[DrDave]

Provide your Koi with cut veggies and maybe they will leave some of your plants alone. Mine get a variety of cut veggies daily. They also love rice even more than Koi food and it is a lot cheaper. Mine get all 3.

 

[butterflycld]

Thanks for the ideas. I have recently added a 30 gallon preform tub next to my pond. With a cutout and pvc pipe to drain into my pond. I have one pump running to that and then my big pump running to a 20 gallon tub that I built for filtration. I put some plants in the filter tub and in the 30 gallon one. I figured my plants would be safe away from the fish and my main pond still gets the benefits of lots of plants oxygenating the water, plus the help from the two waterfalls. I have been able to keep my lily pad and another tall stalk type plant in the pond with the fish and they do not bother them. Thanks for the help.

 

[pondlady]

I have been ponding for 16 year and never have my koi eaten my plants, with the exception of vallisneria grass they do love that. Sorry that yours do. Some plants are just yuk to eat. Watermilfoil for one and water celery is another. Wish I could be of more help!