Topic: Missing Fish

[bumble]

I waited for a few weeks for my small pond (3 foot x 2 foot deep ish)  to become established with various green plants etc before I introduced 4 goldfish into it.  The fish were duly put in on Friday and since then I have not seen sight of them. I scattered some fish food on the surface but this has not been taken and this morning I had a good look in by pulling back the pond plants and it looks like they have disappeared.  What could have taken them?

[Roy Bham UK]

Cats ???

[Deleted]

Heron

[bumble]

Nope, not either as far as I know.

[Deleted]

Herons are very cunning. You do not have to be near water or heronry. They can be there for just 5 minutes at 4.30am, say, and wipe out whole populations of ponds.

Are you sure the fish aren't 'hiding' until they become accustomed to their new surroundings? Fish are very sensitive and take a while to settle - if I close an upstairs window in of my house fairly hard, I can see the fish in my pond 'jump'. I have a net to stop heron, but know if ones been staking out the place as the fish go to ground (go to water???) for a good 24 hours with barely any visible.

[beejay]

A heron will also frighten fish if it misses them so they disappear down to the bottom of the pond. Ours disappeared for over 2 weeks once. It was only when we had decided that they must have all been eaten & bought some more that they decided to reappear! It was a very busy pond.

[bumble]

Thanks for your help fellow pondies.  If my fish are hiding, should I still be feed them?

[Deleted]

Try giving some food - it may coax them out of hiding if they are still there.

[Roy Bham UK]

:o Definitely :o this is when they need food most, but don't over feed ;)

[bumble]

Hi

I was sat quiety by my little pond yesterday (my birthday) and was delighted to actually see my goldfish come to the surface to feed.  Just out of interest, just how many fish should I have in a fairly small pond with no filtration?

[Deleted]

Hi Bumble,

So glad your fish have surfaced again. Something must have given them a bit of a fright.

How many fish? Have copied this for you (however, someone neglected to let my fish in on the info when they started to go mad breeding!):

To assess how many fish your pond will support, estimate its surface area and allow 60sq cm of surface for every 1 cm of fish (equivalent to 24 sq. inches per inch of fish).  Since fish grow and breed, it is best to start off with around one-third of the theoretical maximum number.  For example, a 1.8 x 1.2m (6ft x 4ft) pond will, in theory, support 360cm (144ins) of fish, equivalent to 36 individuals averaging 10cm (4ins)long, but, in practice, you should have only about 12.

There's also a nifty little calcualtor at: http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/stocking_density_calculator.php

Dawn