ThisGuy

Hi I just got my new house last Tuesday and there is a little pond it the back yard that I was not sure what to do with and was planning on ripping it out because i thought that it was way too small. It hasn't been running for at least a season or too, so I decided to drain it yesterday it’s actually bigger than I thought. By my guess and it’s just a guess I’d say 75 gallons, there is no pump but they do have power feeding to an outlet right next to the pond. I am going to go to the LFS and see about getting a pump, and something to drain the bottom of it. It’s about 3 - 4 feet deep. The previous owners had fish until the raccoons got it and I was on the back porch a couple of nights ago and a big raccoon came and took a drink for it.

Now here is the real question what do I do with it? I know it’s small but my mom is storing a 90 gallon pond in her garage (I think it’ 90) that she said I could have if I want it, can you put 2 ponds together?(they are both hard rubber liners) . My goal is to put in a 1000 gallon Koi pond but this is a good opportunity for me to learn about how to maintain a pond. How do you stop raccoons from killing the fish because if you can’t that will put a stop to me putting in my Koi pond.
Thanks for the help

Ryan

hockeyref88

Hi Ryan......................Well if it was me I'd rip it out and start over but if you want to just try it out to see what its like thats kool............75-90 gal is real small and you'd probably have to go with just goldfish.......As for the preditors, you could go with a small electric fencing wire around the paremeter or netting. The netting works good its just not that great to look at. If its 3 feet deep the coons will have a tough time but blue herons are pretty good hunters and very hard to stop. The other thing you could do is build a little cover over it. anything would work, umbrella of some kind. I don't know if herons are even a problem where you live but, once they find a pond with fish its game over. you can't get rid of them. Good luck bro.

hockeyref88

Hey Ryan..........You got any of this new pond and surrounding area?

ThisGuy

I will once i figure out where the cable is for my camera... just moved so its in a box somewhere.... I want to put in a nice koi pond next year but i have this little one so its a start. We do have blue herons and they have demoed ponds around here eating all the fish in one sitting. I went and got a PowerJet 200
Fountain/Waterfall Pump Kit by Laguna, it will at least look nicer than the mud puddle that was there and it will cut down on those West Nile buggers. Thanks for the info on the raccoons the guy at the pond store suggested silver balls and you place them around the pond and it scares them away?

http://www.lagunaponds.com/lagunaeng....php?link=1403

hockeyref88

Never heard of the silver ball thing Good luck with that.........All of the equipment I have on my pond is laguna and so far so good. We have a 80 gal pond in our front yard and had a simular set up, with the little fountain. It worked quite well for the time we used it. Only had goldfish in it. Looking forward to seeing what your talking about

ThisGuy

Ryans girl here

I got our pond up and running while Ryan was at work.. Theres nuthin in it right now other then the fountain.. Im scared to put fish in it because of the two raccoons that have been hanging around! But I got some pictures for everyone!
two are close ups and one is of the whole backyard with my Golden girl

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Vern Archer

Hi Ryan couple of things I have racoons in my back yard as well and have been successfull to date with using a 20 watt landscape halogen light that shoots its light across the water as the racoons approach they leave a shadow and scare the fish to the deepest part of the pond 4 feet. The sides of your pond should be straight down no ledges where a racoon can sit and fish. the silver spheres are about 10 to 12 inches in diameter the Herons see their relection and it scares them away. We have two ornamental Herons that oversee the pond which will also keep them away. Keep in mind the larger the pond the harder it is for the raccons to catch the KOI or goldfish. I would go with goldfish for now until you get the hang of it. Hope this helps.v