How to Keep Garden Pond Fish Safe

Building a pond not only adds a beautiful, soothing feature to your garden, but it helps restore some of the natural environment being destroyed with urban sprawl. A successful garden pond helps offer water for wildlife and homes for the displaced native creatures like frogs, dragonflies and water bugs. It also invites those native pests who would happily dine on your precious fish like raccoons, herons and other predators! Here are some tips on how to keep garden pond fish safe from would-be predators.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Protect pond fish with a well built pond.

   Build your pond with fish safety in mind. Avoid those steps so often shown in common pond designs if you have raccoons. They will use them to wade into your pond and help themselves to dinner. Smooth, straight sides make fishing more difficult. You can also add hiding spaces for your fish to hide in. Sunken milk crates and painted cinder blocks provide safe harbor where you fish can flee from those prodding little raccoon hands and the long, expert fishing beaks of herons and egrets.

2. Statues and fake predators can protect pond fish -- if regularly moved.

   Add some decorative discouragement. Fake owls and snakes can intimidate and sculptures of herons detour the real things since they think the territory is already taken. You will have to move your sculptures and model critters every now and then as even the wildlife will catch on to them being no threat if they are always in the same place.

3. Try some kinetic defense systems. There are whirligigs, water squirters and light flashers you can set up around your pond. Some are motion sensors and display their scare tactics when an invader trips their motion sensors. These are most successful after dark.

4. Low volt wires can be hard to see.

   Sometimes all these efforts are still not enough. Occasionally some individual pests are remarkably resourceful and need to be held at bay with a low voltage electric wire or fence. It is best to set these mild shock-givers for activation after dark on a timer to avoid accidental shocks when people are around the pond. The electric shock is not harmful but it is definitely unpleasant!

5. Pond netting protects fish.

   Netting is another alternative. I do this anyway to keep the leaves out of the pond in the autumn. It isn't very attractive, though. So you probably won't want to use netting as a permanent deterrent.

6. Ponds attract dragonflies.

   For more information on how to keep garden pond fish safe, please see the additional links listed in Resources, below.

Resources

• The dreaded pond predator
• Wildlife at the pond
• General landscape design and ideas
• How to design and build a pond