Damn that sux, sorry to hear that. my mother ahashs a small pond that she keeps koi in. They are very neat fish.

That was a very beautiful pond and a nice garden too!

Too bad you lost the fish just the day after you missed stringing the fishing wire. I know how sad it is especially when you miss your loved ones.

I hope you are thinking positive. Be happy for being able to live with your fish during the past 2 years - even without any protection from the Herons as well! And I hope you consider this as a lesson and proceed with adding good protection for pond. Make your beautiful pond a home to a new lucky bunch of fish. :)

All the Best,
McoreD

Well.. in the city where I live now, I don't have those troubles. Just the occasional attractive "wild life" paying her way through college as you pass down much of the city core. The NorthShore dwelling had plenty of fish and plant life. I sort of miss it, the fishy pond, but I'm glad to live in the city, its far easier to get around.

Crikey! :(

Maybe next time you can put smart tags on the fish so at least you would be able to track the heron and extract some revenge ;) :D

BTW - Nice place you got there :)

/JD

I strung the fishing wire yesterday. Today I woke up and one more fish was gone. It was one of the golden orfs. It's not a big loss compared with what happened yesterday, but it's very worying knowing that it managed to get anything despite my efforts. It looks like it stood on some long grass (as it looks slightly squashed) nearby the pond, in the one place I didn't have any wire.

Tonight I will set the fountain to turn on intermittently. I know it doesn't scare the heron (as I tried it before when I actually saw the heron approach, it thought absolutly nothing of the fountain turning on), but at least it won't be able to stand close without being rained upon, which might distract it.

When the house was built two years ago I wired several cameras around the garden and driveway. They were intended for security, but I never got around to ordering a 4 channel capture card, so only the one in the driveway was connected till now. I've switched this over to the garden for now, so if the heron comes back at least I'll know what it's tactics are (which side it tries to approach from, did it just happen to land in the one place without wire or was it persistant enough to look around the pond for a good place, etc).

I can tell you where it gets to the fish. you provided a perfect path for it to wade into the pond. It looks great by the way, stunning would be another word for it :D You need to have a sharp drop from the surrounding garden to the water, preferably vertical, and it needs to be at least 8 inches. The damn things are waders, they wade over rocky ground in the rivers and and streams to catch their food- thats probably why your pond attracts them (That and the fact they are greedy and eat whatever they can get their hands on!) If you get a sharp enough drop they are forced to sit alongside the pond and wait for a fish to swim within reach before they can strike, wich improves the chances of you seeing the damn thing and chasing it off.

If all else fails buy a dog! Cat's won't scare a heron, they are just too big. Six and a Half stone of English Bull terrier does the trick just fine :P

This is something to think about......
I went to good old Google.com and typed this in:
keeping+fish+safe+from+heron

What is below will be a rather good start. After reading some of this, you are not the only one with that problem. It seems as though the motioned sensors are the better way to go along with netting (which I would not want). They can be used with lights or water spray controlled by sensors as to the direction of attack.


http://www.aquatics-warehouse.co.uk/...ARERS_138.html

http://www.bindingstevens.com/Cant_B...smart_Them.htm

http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/Pr...GreatBlue.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PondSubWe...acclimfaqs.htm

[quote]
koi
Hi Robert,
A blue heron has just eaten 6 of my 13 koi & comets. I have since put a
net over the pond, but the fish won't come out of their houses I had
made for them. I am sure they are still frightened but am quite
concerned about them. They have not eaten in a week. Will they get
over the scare and swim around as before? They use to come to me as
soon as they saw me for food.
Thank you for any help,
Irene
<Yes, your fish will recover, but this will take a few more weeks to a couple of months... Do be vigilant about keeping the netting in place... and consider placing motion activated lighting and sound effects about the pond's exterior... Good luck, life. Bob Fenner>
QUOTE]

Good luck Zone

Thanks
Dudelive

hmmm you mention that you have the area wired....

What about installing a "HAL" system ...

(http://www.automatedliving.com/default.htm)

And setting sprinklers to auto spay when the birds come by?

Apparently these parts are very cheap on ebay btw

Or as previous suggestion, tag the fishies... with explosive devices B)

Sorry to hear this mate. I sugegst a really big donkey dog. let him wonder around there. hee hee hee hee.

i know what its like to loose a pet. My Favourite cat went missing 2 days ago. He never leaves home, but we have not seen him for a 2 days now.

We fearing the worst. gonna put some posters up today, hopefully someone found him. i seriously miss him. He was the coolest cat in the world.

A little update. The heron came back again for breakfast today (4:40 am). Thankfully it didn't manage to eat any of the fish.

It landed near the pond and walked around to a place where there wasn't any fishing wire. Since that place had relatively steep sides, it couldn't get into the water. I think the occasional fountain also helped a little.

It spent only 5 minutes here and then flew off. Not sure if something frightened it, or if it simply gave up. Either way I'm pretty certain it will be back, so I'll make sure that last segment is protected before I get more fish.

For those who are interested, I've uploaded the relevant part from the video caputer (sorry for the poor quality):

http://zone-mr.ath.cx/content/photos/house/Heron1.wmv