How To Protect Pond fish, pond fry and fish eggs from their big brothers

If you have very young fish in danger of being eaten by larger fish you can separate them but still keep them in the same pond until they are a bit bigger as follows ...

Create a fine mesh bag about 2 feet deep. The mesh should be soft and smooth rather than hard and rough. The mesh should also allow water to flow through it unhindered without the mesh being large. You can use almost anything that achieves this and shade netting would be a good idea.

Attach the bag to pieces of foam (or maybe polystyrene or even wood) that float creating a ring or square. Add a bit of weight to the bottom of net to keep it open ... eg stones and let it float around the pond. Of course you must catch the fish first and then put them in their safe floating environment. Collect clumps of weed/aquatic plants on which fish have laid eggs or in which the very young fry might be hiding and just place this in the floating hide-out.

Many gold fish are born black and not gold ... they seem to appear from nowhere when they are about 1 inch long. In fact they have been hiding from the larger fish who would have eaten them along with many others that did not survive hatching from the ova or eggs. Because the young gold fish are black they can be difficult for us to see. Gradually they start turning gold until they do become little goldfish - what a delight they are too. All your own work at that.

This one sounds a bit crazy but works. Your fish will learn to recognize you especially if you feed them. To speed up this process move your hands as you approach the pond (or do something similar) ... just don't let the neighbors see you. Keep the movement the same every time for maximum effect.

Pond Skimmers ... also called Surface Skimmers.

A pond skimmer is designed to remove (skim) floating debris by suction and thus remove some of the potential biological debris polluting the water or making it cloudy. The skimming action is created using a pump which can be attached to what is a fixed or floating device ... for those people with swimming pools the skimmer is almost always in a fixed position and is normally an overflow point.

Inside a pond skimmer is normally a plastic mesh or wire basket which catches the debris sucked into the pond skimmer unit. The size of the mesh determines what size of solid can pass through the pond skimmer ... this means a solids handling pump matching the mesh size must be chosen.

Fixed pond skimmers sit on the bottom of the pond or on a brick to elevate them depending upon depth. This type of pond skimmer will normally have a base which can somehow be weighted with stones to prevent it moving. There will be a device for

connecting a pipe leading to the pump at the base of such a pond skimmer.

Some pumps have a separate nozzle to attach a pond skimmer to. Pond skimmers are normally not an essential part of an average garden pond.

You can get a pond skimmer here if you live in USA

Tips For All Time ...

Choose your type of pond plant here ... your choice of wild indigenous plants from list here. The types are the oxygenators ... floaters or floating plants and marginals

Choose your pond filter .... Tetra pond filters review | OASE pond filters review | Hozelock pond filter reviews | Water garden fish pond UV lights | AquaBead large koi pond filters | Tetra fish pond UV sterilizers | Fluidart garden fish pond UV sterilizers

How to choose the right pond pump for all pond situations and where to get your pump of choice in the USA

A pond skimmer is designed to remove (skim) floating debris by suction and thus remove some of the potential biological debris polluting the water or making it cloudy. The skimming action is created using a pump which can be attached to what is a fixed or floating device ... for those people with swimming pools the skimmer is almost always in a fixed position and is normally an overflow point. You can get a pond skimmer here if you live in USA

Alfagrog is called Fish-Mate SUPRA  in USA and is the perfect small to medium pond biofilter media.

Choose your UV system here ....  this supplier is based in Florida. UK ponders can look here

Peter J May's is the author of "The Perfect Pond Recipe Book"  which is probably the most practical and useful basic DIY pond building book ever published. You can read more ... just click here to read about Building Perfect Ponds and at $13 it's a steal