Looking forward to removing the cover now on our pool/pond this Spring, I wondered:

I have noticed that some folks have had herons raid their outdoor ponds. I don't have any of those in my area, but we do have lots and lots of Canadian geese that winter over. The only other birds of any size are Blue Jays, Mourning Doves and Crows/Ravens .... are any of those probable threats??

Also, I have lots of squirrels in the neighborhood, including families living in trees 10 feet from the pool/pond. They now visit the pool cover to get drinks from the rain water trapped on the surface. (actually, that spot is also the local avian bathhouse and oasis). Do those squirrels pose a threat to the fish? We always have a skunk roaming the neighborhood as well as some possums, and, of course, one or two feral or semi-feral cats. I expect they might possibly be a danger.

How serious are the risks?

Oliver

Deeper the pond, less the risk.

To discourage hunters such as raccoon, cats, and the occasional fox/coyote, have the pond have a sharp dropoff at the edge - OR have stones set at the edge that the fish can go UNDER - and do NOT feed the fish at the edge of the pond.

This will still not protect trusting fish that will come to the sight of a shadow thinking they may be fed.

As far as feral cats, most cats will NOT bother the fish if there is easier prey or food available. A cat will eat garbage and road kill before working too hard for a large fish. Some cats learn to fish, though, and, once learned, may teach it to their offspring. So if you have one, you may have others. Keep an eye out. In general, feral cats do not hunt songbirds or fish nearly as much as the old-wive's-tales warn. They do not work that hard. They go for smaller, less dangerous prey, or for easier prey. A mouse can be pounced upon when it is located with sound. A bird must be stalked - and that stalking fails 99% of the time. The same for fish - the fish must be stalked - and not only are many of the stalkings a failure, but failure is met with a soaking.

Heron are impossible to control. They natually fish - that is how they eat. End of discussion. HEron and raccoon make it impossible for me to have an outside pond. I would not fear any of the dozens of feral cats I care for - but the heron and coons are HORRID.

what i had trouble with was snakes. they feasted. end of koi, end of my baby goldies, argh.

jays, doves, naw they are all pretty. squirrels didnt hurt mine. i quit leaving dog food out and that discourages the skunks and coons. we have deer who will come in and drink, thats pretty cool.

i miss my pond so much, i wish you much luck with yours!

Most of the pool has a sharp drop-off from deck level to water surface, except for a 3 or 4 ft. wide area where the steps go down as the entrance into the pool.

Actually, the most aggressive "beasts" around here are the squirrels... other than my barking Westie.

Oliver

I hope I am able to get the pool pump and filtration system working - it hasn't been turned on for at least 10 years. That equipment is planned to be the heart of the conversion to a pond... that is, provide particulate filtering (through DE) and sufficient water flow to enable me to raise a column of water to a sufficient height and pressure to feed into some home-made nitrite filtration set-ups using bacteria on filter material plus plants in large Rubbermaid boxes emptying back into the pond. If the expensive pump and underground piping system is shot, I don't know what I will do.

Oliver

wal mart here has pumps that arent high. i think 200$ is what i had priced at one time. the outlet for the plug was gonna be twice that, which is why i couldnt have it and still cant. (poor here) mine did fine without filters or pumps. nice clear water, healthy all over the place plants and fish. i did have to "mow" my plants, as they simply would take over the place. esp lilies. bad idea, they were. they take over badly. anachris (sp) blooms so pretty. i had leopard frogs who came on their own. always dumped the dog water in the pond and the fish ate the mosquito larvae.

most home building places have very reasonable stuff here.

and i have seen plans for do it yourself if your handy that way. (you sounded pretty handy in the post) i dont think it would be hard to replace, would it? altho your up north, and you have worse ice than we have in texas. crossing fingers for you to have it work***

ponds are just the best thing to have. maybe someday i will get me another one. me and a friend of mine dug this one ourselves one summer, in spite of being told it wouldnt work, we concreted it and collected our own rocks. and by jove, it worked fine! i miss it. i would love to see pics of yours sometime.

Oliver, predation is a normal thing in many ponds. You get used to it. I've learned not to get too attached to my goldfish outside. The deep water and straight sides on your pool are a good thing. Heron's like to wade in and it they can't it forces them to fish from above -- not a good position and they will go somewhere where the fishing is easier.

I've had snakes swim in the pond, but have never lost fish to them. We get garter snakes and black rat snakes here -- no problem there. We also have racoons, but not having an entry point for them has foiled their attempts. They like to wade and if the sides go straight down, they can't do that....

No problem with squirrels. They visit my pond, drink the water, and get chased out of the yard by the dog, LOL. One squirrel likes to eat water lily leaves in the summer and can make quite a mess, but I net the debris out every day anyway and he does a rather good job of trimming. I've had my share of opossums, but they do nothing with the pond. Wild cats like to hang out here, but again, they get chased by the dog and do little to hurt the pond.

One thing I do have problems with is box turtles falling into the pond. I do a "turtle inspection" a couple of times a day and take them out. They will eventually drown if you don't save them, but they float like corks and are easy to net out or grab and relocate......

Another predator we get is the local hawk and owl.... They hang around here and try to figure out a way to take the fish, but it's rare that they do. Other pond keepers with shallower ponds around here have more of a problem.....

I really hope that filter works for you this spring.... You'll have to let us know how it goes.

We have to use the net over the pond to protect the fish, because I am to attached to them, I don't wanna loose anymore fish...

That would be me. I'd consider every single one my baby.

Another thing I have been concerned about is what to use as "replacement" water. For the most part, the water in the pool is a ten-year accumulation of rainwater, pumped down a foot and a half to prevent overflow. I would think that our Spring rains would bring it up to "full" in a few months. Now one of the uses of the existing pump system is to serve as a vacuum source (via a thing that looks like the business end of a Hoover cannister vacuum machine using the suction of the skimmer intake drain) to clean the pool bottom. That vacuuming was a once-a-week operation when we used it as a swimming pool. Periodically, we would backwash the system, allowing the used DE filter material and accumulated "stuff" (and the flushing water) to drain into the street/sewer. We would replace that water using a hose.... not worrying about chlorine from the Township water supply. In the future, however, I wonder if the fish would be harmed by using such water to top off the pool/pond. At most, I would guess I would be putting in no more than 1000 to 2000 gallons of the 20,000 gallons after any vacuuming operation.

Oliver

If you're pumping in fresh water you should be using a dechlorinator like PRIME. It's easy to use and will detoxify the fresh water you use to top off the pond....

Sending you a PM on the pond pump question.....

Got it! Thank you. Will follow up on your suggestion.

Frankly, I'm not sure how one can add, say 1000 gallons to a pool via a hose and use dechlor.
First off, I suspect the chlorine in that 1000 gallons being added to, say 18,000 gallons (of basically rain) water in the pool may not have any negative effect on the fish because of the dilution factor. Likewise, adding some sort of dechlor product to 19,000 gallons in order to detox the last 1000 gallons added seems ridiculous to me.

I'll have to continue to investigate that problem.


Oliver

If you've been frequenting the pond websites online, you'll see that PondPrime comes in quite large bottles.

I can't wait till Spring to watch what you do!

LOL.... so am I. So far I haven't the foggiest. I wonder what is taking place under the pool cover and the impact of all the warm weather we have been having.... although right now we have about and inch or two of sno and it is still coming down.

I wonder if the fluctuating weather might have already triggered the breeding cycle of some of the "gang?"


Oliver