Protecting fish from herons!

[Ron Harris]

I have a series of ponds and am looking for some advice to keep herons from eating my babies. They have been making short work of any fish I try to raise. Any ideas? I'm especially not looking for ugly...

Tried the owl, heron decoy, scarecrow sprayer (managed to get my mother in law --didn't go over too well) and scare ballon!

Ron Harris
:wall:

 

[bettagurl]

How deep is your pond?

If it's deep, and the heron is just picking them out from the ground surrounding the pond, put alot of plants(not any that will possibly get into your pond searching for water) around the pond. Or a net cover, brown/tan net(with wide holes, not the tiny fish net holes) it doesn't look bad, especially it it's raised about 7"-10" above the pond.
HTH

 

[Firebelly__girl]

A net it usually the best way. You could get floating fake/real plants, I think that would help a little bit for the fish to get away, but herons are made to stalk and can get under plants when they want to lol

 

[hankn]

Other anti-Heron options:

1) run fish line in a checkerboard pattern - each a foot from the other over the entire pond.

2) buy a Koi castle:
http://www.pondbiz.com/home/pb1/page_11_9/koi_kastle.html

3) other ideas (including the water scarecrow):
http://www.azponds.com/pond_accessories.htm

 

[richdeer3]

Herons have a hard time seeing fish if the water is highly aerated. Try using a strong pump like the ones included in the Happy Fish Pond Palaces. Always provide cover for your fish. You can use black pond dye to hide your fish from predators until you can get a better setup going.

 

[mann1139]

String 'em up

Other anti-Heron options:

1) run fish line in a checkerboard pattern - each a foot from the other over the entire pond.

Slightly different situation, but my parents used something like this to keep birds out of their pool and the area around it. You see it at resorts and stuff too. Clear/white line run at about 8 - 10' off the ground in a random pattern. The birds can detect it, but usually can't fly through it. And if you run it close to the ground like hankn said, they really won't be able to get through it.

 

[shawnkfl]

shotgun works well too.....:dog:

j/k

 

[cichlidsrextrem]

yea id just shoot them but i love fish alot and birds not so much but the string i dea sounds sweet or u could hide in water and come running out of it and scare them 2 death but if there was only one doing it (BANG!!)

 

[Adam78]

my bull arab dog makes short work of any bird near my pond...get yourself a good hunting dog...

 

[angelsun]

The pond netting or strung fishing line as mentioned previously are both good options. Another option is a shade sail. They look nice, provide shade, and they move around a bit and make a slight flapping sound which any birds don't seem to like. They sell them on Ebay and also directly at
http://www.shadesails.com/ready made.htm