General Chat

I have...No kidding...I've lost all me fish...7 golden orfe,,3 goldfish,,2 shubumkins,,1 comet,, 2 golden tench,,3 green tench and lastly our big ghost Koi..He was on a pot gasping for breath..Took it out and all right hand side from top to bottom had been opened..Found a goldfish in the stream among pebbles ,, just head and half body,,rest had gone... Chap over road helps game keeping at Blenheim Palace and a good fisherman...Showed him half fish,,he took one look and said MINK...It had found such a good food source it just kept coming back...Koi was to big for it to handle....The Koi was worth about £200 and the orfe,,which we had from 2 ins long,,were worth about £15 each..Had them valued for possible insurance cover but never got to it...Now can't afford to restock so just keeping main pond as feature with irises,,lillies and fountain...Can't make me mind up about other 2 ponds...Keep or fill in.....Sad old week this....LES... :-( :-(

Les I am so so sorry to hear that!

Oh LES what a terrible thing to have happened.

Friends had exactly the same thing happen to them.

My OH has kept mainly Koi for over 30 years and was even breeding from the best ones at one time. We are quite attached to them and have had to net the pond as last years babies were being taken by a Kingfisher.

The pump packed up last week and by the time we woke up they were all in a bad way. All ended well though. We would be devastated to have lost them. It would be hard to start again.

I'm so sorry

Take care Barb x

After sitting up all night and shooting a few eventually worked out waste of time as there are always some more.

This common sense method works though and is cheap. Sadly it won't bring yr carp back. The method also works with herons.

http://www.pondtrademag.com/articles/ar-118/

Les I'm sorry to hear this.

Take care.

Emma x

oh Les, what a shame - the heron from the nearby river Taff has cleared out most of the ponds around here - you can see him flying over doing a reccie every so often

I've also seen the magpies picking fish out the pond

Les I am so sorry to hear this We regularly see a Heron perched on the roof of a big house opposite. Lots of houses near me have large fish ponds in their gardens . Obviously eyeing up where he will pounce next. Nature can be so cruel.

Awww Les I am sorry about your poor fish :-( :-(

Mink are viscous creatures aren't they......maybe your local paper would be interested in telling your story to warn other locals about the danger.

I wish we lived near you I just might be able to wheedle a fish or 2 for you from a very kind man I know ;-)

Take care lovely man <3

I have always netted my ponds......


Mink are great swimmers and will eat what they can get......frogs etc including fish,,,,,,such a shame when this happens.

:-(

Les what a shame those minks are a real menace, so sorry for you it must have been very upsetting to find them all.

What a shame I get gutted when one of my adult goldfish die cos they have been bred in the outside pond and matured to BIG fish of about 10 inches long.

I know when one dies its cos they have reached their natural end but it does sadden me to find one floating on the pond

It must be absolutely gutting for you to have lost them the way you have,.

We get seagulls trying to get them and the local cats have been seen trying to scoop em out , even found one on the patio one morning that i thought was dead but when I went to scoop it up its tail fluttered so even though it had a wound on one side I put it back in the pond and it revived and lived for another couple of years.

I found too I had to net the pond to protect them .

Sorry Les you lost yours .it must have been very upsetting

Oh ,sorry to hear that!
Thought you were going to say you had a heron flying around as that's what happened to my m.i.l.a few years ago and they had to put a net over after losing their koi carp and the heron sitting on top of house next door chomping away.
Just heard on news today that a lot of fish have been dying as the weather has been so hot,so in some places they are pumping lots of water into lakes etc.

So sorry Les.

My neighbours, when I was in UK, lost all theirs to a heron.

Nature fills a void so perhaps soon you'll find frogs and newts etc taking over. Let's hope so. :-)

Feral cats, rats and stoats here are a ruddy nuisance here.

We are fighting them all the time to ensure our native birds survival.

Some of our varieties of kiwis have been wiped out.. this is a real problem when only some of our birds fly. The kakapo likes everyone (including us humans) and does not recognise danger.

So I can empathise with you Les, and it's not just the monetary loss these are your interest as well. It definitely has been a sad old week for you.

Take care Persie

COR!!! Thanks all for your comments...The main pond of three has a pergola built over it and covered in net,,the sides have 3 safety rails so grandchildren cant fall in...From the top to the safety rail is netted and the bottom safety rail has heavy gauge net to floor....As I said the only 2 I found were the large damaged koi and the 1/2 eaten goldfish...Looked all round shrubbery on outside of pond area and nothing left anywhere... Thanks again you lovely people...Still got 2 tubs and bag of fish food in cupboard....OH YES!!! Yesterday,,wife found 2 baby frogs about little finger nail size...So we still have some live stock....Dredged middle pond and rocks etc yesterday,,,no newts either....OH well!!!!......LES.

Sorry to hear this sad news Les.
Looks like you took all precautions to keep your fish safe, but then looks like nature's thugs looted your pond if bits of fish were left?

Sending hugs
Mau xx