WARNING: Things that can trap, ensnare, or injure your fish

[Mmathis]

I'm going to post this under the "newbie" topic, 'cause I feel like a newbie right now!

A WARNING about what you put in your pond -- be sure it's "fish-safe!"

• does it have sharp or convoluted edges?
• does it have holes or spaces that a fish could get trapped in?
• is it an entanglement danger?
• if the fish goes in / gets into it, can it get out safely and without scraping or injuring itself?
• is everything in the pond secured well enough that nothing will fall and trap or injure a fish?
• ....feel free to add your own to the list....

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Due to recent renovations, my fish have NO place to hide, so I stuck a bucket in the pond. It was a bucket I'd used to drain pea gravel, so I had drilled it full of holes. I had to get in the pond this morning [another story] and went to move the bucket -- there was a dead fish sticking half in-half out of one of the holes -- and I mean STUCK!. Fortunately, [well, not for the fish...] it was a Rosey Red and not one of the goldies, but still..... Poor thing thought it could squeeze through the little hole and got stuck -- forever!
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Would love to hear your stories and/or solutions to similar problems that have come up since you've been keeping fish. We can all learn from each others' mistakes!

 

[Dave 54]

Thats were we formal koi ponders dont have that problem our bubblers are the only thing sticking up in the pond we have a skimmer that doesnt have a pipe or wire because we are using the old inle pipe exit as the skimmer .
Nor do we have plant pots but last ear the netting proved fatal foer our new koi as you can probably remember if they want to get stuck they will find a way to do it.
Good sound advice Turtle Mommy

Dave

 

[JohnHuff]

Ya, it's happened to us in our indoor tank, many times. If it's something they can get stuck in, they will.

 

[mrsclem]

When I had goldfish I had one get stuck in the side of a milk crate. Now I wrap them in fabric or cut some of the sides to make the holes larger.

 

[dieselplower]

I have had one large Oranda get stuck in the same ornament 3 times! The first time he sustained moderate damage to his dorsal and tail fin and lost some scales. The second time, no biggie. This third time he sustained a lot of damage to his wen, fins, and is missing all the scales on one side. I am all for letting the dummy suffer if he wont learn but the third time was too much. I took the ornament and modified it so he could no longer get stuck.

 

[j.w]

Had a big pot for filter w/ holes drilled in sides in the pond and sure enough fish got stuck but was still alive and I was able to get it out safely. That filter pot is gone now!

 

[JohnHuff]

...a lot of damage to his wen, fins, and is missing all the scales on one side.

Not trying to be funny here, but what is a wen?

 

[koiguy1969]

A 'WEN' IS THE FLESHY GROWTH ON AN ORANDA'S HEAD.

 

[koiguy1969]

THE RED AREA IN THIS PIC...

 

[dieselplower]

Exactly. It looks like a huge brain growing out of its head.

 

[Tula]

I wrapped and zip tied my lily baskets with bird netting last fall to keep the koi out of them. My fish are too big for the net holes....but now I'm a little worried.

On a bright note, I saw all five of my koi today! They swam lazily around coming close enough for me to inspect each one carefully. I threw out a few wheat germs pellets and my most eager eater, ate them I did a nice water change too.

 

[jmajid]

we built a nursery cage for our pond to house our smaller goldfish/comets in to ensure that they got plenty of food...
they are fine - tried to get out - cant - because the holes are too small for them...
then i had the brilliant idea of buying some dace... didnt think twice that they would be small enough t come and go in the cage... and then also get stuck.
Lost two of them to that - one we got unstuck 3 times in half hour and put him in an indoor tank - then died. The second was hurt a few times then we found it dead later.
Lesson learned.. that just because your current fish are too big for the holes - when you buy new fish - think... are they now too small to get in/out of holes and possibly get stuck.
We are thinking of removing the cage this weekend - after the cold snap we are expecting today/tomorrow - so that the smaller fish are not stressed being placed into the larger area just as it gets cold.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

A long time ago I lost a betta due to having a clay pot turned on it's side (being used as a cave/hidey spot) The darn fish tried to swim through the little hole on the bottom of the pot and got stuck. His head was sticking out the end but couldn't get any farther than that : (

With fancy goldfish you have to be so careful of decorations in your tank. I like to think of it as "baby proofing" for goldfish.