That really sucks, loosing a pet, or in your case many, is always a tragedy. Hopefully time and money will allow you to replace those that were lost and make new friends. Too bad you couldn't figure out a way to protect the pond. Maybe some sort of netting or something. Anyways good luck.

Sorry bout your loss. As Jarod says, I also think some type of netting would be the answer.

We had the same problem here, but ours was with rabbits. We have a small animal area with rabbits etc. Falcons and eagles grabbed them untill we put up the net. Now they are save.

Cheerz
Dave

I know the problem. living in a pretty rural area we have big problems with the Heron's depopulating the local ponds. I built my pond around 15 years ago, it's oval in shape, 10 feet long and 6 feet deep at it's center with a natural stone wall around it about a foot high. It has around 40 fish in there comprised mainly of Ghost Koi and a few goldfish the last neighbors sonated before they moved away plus some fish my brother caught when he was younger. the Heron tried for month's to get at the fish but the high stone wall prevents it from getting at them. I'm lucky in that respect, the design prevents the Heron from getting anything except bored! BUT a lot of theneighbors have ponds and aren't so lucky. one guy goes out at the end of each month and spends a fortune on fish, simply to replace the ones the heron has eaten over previous month.

Whilst you have a virtually empty pond it may be time to look at preventing the heron from getting the rest of them. I've built a few ponds in the intervening years and can offer advice if you like- i did'nt know you had fish or how much experience you have with them :D

Thanks for the comments guys. Netting would be something I'd like to avoid, as it would make the pond look more like a fortress than a natural object, and ruin it visually.

I've read from numerous sources that stringing some fishing wire around the edge is an effective deterrent. The herons are confused by the fact that they can't move close and go elsewhere. The irony is that I was planning on doing this yesterday, just never got around to it due to heavy rain.

My pond has rocks around the outside too (picture here), but that didn't seem to bother the Heron. I guess they aren't high enough, and there are gaps in places. Since the pond is surounded by the house wall in three of the four directions, herons don't have much of a landing area. The one I saw a few days ago actually landed at the very end of the garden and slowly walked towards the pond (taking a good 1/2 hour to get there, before I scared it off).

I've found a large plastic owl pretty efficient for a variety of bird-scaring purposes but many experts are pretty sniffy about it. You could try something that looks pretty interesting at http://www.koivision.co.uk/acatalog/Scarecrow.html

Good luck! :)

Sorry to hear about the loss of your fish. That's a very nice looking pond that you have, I'm sure you'll find a way to protect it.

Yeah my Uncle has an oriental garden with a koi pond and has several it's very nice. It's too bad about your fish maybe you can set something up to keep the Herons away

lol I'm going to buy something like that. Damn squirrels are my problem. May it will scare the poopie out of them. lol Hope so.

Sorry about that. :(

Sorry to hear of your loss Martin :(

btw that is one of the most beautiful ponds I have ever seen. Put up your tactical support and replenish that pond. You will have tame fish again :)