africans in an outdoor pond

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
voss345;1909185; said:
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
it kind of seems like a pain in the butt, but to stop birds from landing and eating fsih just stake in fishing line across the pond like a checkerboard to stop birds from landing
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. When we talked he said that the only large birds he gets are ducks and that one blue heron. The ducks stopped by early on this spring and ate the small koi he added this spring. They left the 4-5 inch one alone. But they flew north and are no longer around.

Before the low water level late last summer he didn't lose a single fish. He found out to late that he needed to watch out for ducks flying by and hanging out for a few days.
 
We have always had a large pond. Every other year or so ducks and other birds would destroy our koi. Even if you have not seen them for years, one day you come home and blam!

Put up some protect!
 
badisbadis101;1909251; said:
Africans thrive in ponds. I put a pair in my 1,000 gallon pond last spring, and when i took them out, there were over 30. This year i went with more diversity, no breeding yet, but they seem to be doing great. Africans are great for ponds, but i have one problem with yours: It is too big, IMO, because of the difficult involved with catching them in the fall. Unless you want to drain all 50,000 gallons of it every year, and have room for 50,000 gallons worth of africans inside, i would proceed with caution

Good luck, either way
Click to expand...

Wow. Good luck this year :headbang2.

I plan on using a large net he has to cut the pond in half. Once we know which side it's on we'll use another one to cut it in half again and repeat the process until we can scoop him out.

I really hope this works out. If it does I'll try it with a few females next year.
 
mike dunagan;1909321; said:
We have always had a large pond. Every other year or so ducks and other birds would destroy our koi. Even if you have not seen them for years, one day you come home and blam!

Put up some protect!
Click to expand...

Ouch! How large were the koi and when did the ducks stop by? All year long or a certain time of the year?

If it becomes a problem I might get one of these:link

I want to go on record and say that it's about 6 inches right now.
 
We have a lot of blue heron in my area, and with every new shopping center they build in this swampy section of the east coast, they have to first dig a large drainage ditch to dry the surrounding area enough to build on it. These usually become fenced ponds that are stocked with koi and carp. Herons are very territorial and will usually lay claim to the pond as its solitary guardian and will chase off others, but not ducks or geese. Good luck!
 
Thats why people use Heron decoys on ponds. If another Herons sees another already at a pond, it will usually just keep flying.
 
Why not section part of the pond off to make it easier to collect them in the fall?
 
Be very careful. If you live in a climate where the cichlids could live year round, you are risking introducing these fish into the native waters.

There's already problems in some parts of the Southern US due to people introducing cichlids.

All it takes is a big rainstorm to flood the pond and then a few cichlids are carried into the nearby creek or whatever..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom