Ponds

A few years back, we lost almost every fish we had in our pond. Whether it was a muskrat or a Heron, we're not sure. We did a lot of research to find some way to protect our fish and it wasn't until we made a visit to a local nursery that we were presented with a very simple solution. A few pieces of plastic weeping tile down at the bottom of the pond provides your fish with a place to hide when danger lurks.

Haven't lost any fish since or at least we haven't lost any in the numbers that we did at the time.

That leads to thoughts of over-wintering your fish outdoors. Here in the Kitchener area, if you plan to over-winter fish outdoors, your pond should be 3 feet deep. Early in our pond experience, in October or November, we would catch all of our fish and bring them into the house where we kept them in several large tanks. Then we would remove most of the water, clean the pond and then refill it. So much work!!!!

Now, I'm thankful that we had the smarts to dig the pond deep enough to keep the fish through the winter without having to bring them indoors. The only other thing you have to do to protect the fish through the winter is to ensure that there is an opening in the ice which allows the methane to escape. We use an agricultural heater that is used by farmers to keep water troughs open for their livestock.