Fish pond construction, brick wall strengths etc.

[Mr GrimNasty]

Mink = trap & kill.

[RichB]

Mr GrimNasty said:

Mink = trap & kill.

Indeed but you've got to trap them first!

[Mr GrimNasty]

Apparently they are quite easy (my extensive knowledge from watching Riverside Diary!), they are often solitary so the problem can usually be eradicated. They can't resist exploring a hole or a passage/tunnel. Traps seem cheap from about £20, or you could easily make one if you are half-handy. There's plenty of advice on setting etc. on the net/youtube. And you will be doing you civic duty.

I doubt any netting that wasn't heavy gauge steel wire would stop a mink getting at the fish.

[RichB]

Interestingly, I had wires around the old pond to deter the heron but one day I was on the deck looking at the pond, which was at the bottom of the garden, when I said I've just seen a black cat dive in the pond. Realising how stupid that remark was I ran down and with the handle of a net I kept handy I poked and prodded in the water suddenly this animal leapt out jumped a 4' high fence and sat on the embankment behind my garden (I'm near the Thames) It looked at me, twitched it's whiskers and scampered. I looked it up on the Internet and discovered it was North American mink.

I rang DEFRA etc. and was told that are considered vermin and I could kill it, but only with a 2.2 pistol (doh), the implication was that if I caught it could also club it to death! Apparently they have escaped from mink farms when greenies and do-gooders have set them free. Now of course they are destroying the habitat of our common voles etc. Apparently they will kill fish for fun not just for food.

Afterwards I fully netted the pond and it didn't return, that was a few years ago now.

[headcase]

How about something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/100m-ELECTRIC-FENCE-KOI-POND...

[RichB]

headcase said:

How about something like this?
ELECTRIC-FENCE-KOI-POND-HERON-CAT-FOX-MINK-SCARER

Interesting idea, I would be interested to know if any koi keepers have tried it with success?

[headcase]

They seem to be all the rage with koi ponds, when mine is finished I will be getting one as there is a heron problem here and I would prefair not to have a net over the pond.

[danyeates]

headcase said:

danyeates said:

The pond is about 2 metres deep. Don't know how much water is in there, it's been estaimted at 30,000 gallons but I don't know if that's accurate at all!

If you dont know that how did you spec your filters and flow rate? And what about if you need to add a treatment to the pond?

Hi,

The pond was built by the previous owners of the house, he ran the local koi club and bred/sold koi in one of the outbuildings. He told us that was the size of the pond. He had a little shop there and knew everything there was to know about koi. The filters and pumps are hugely over spec'd for the pond in any case. Most of the time it runs on 1 or 2 of the 3 huge pumps/cyclone filters. The big tower natural filter in the Oriental looking bamboo hut is always operational. There are UV filters too, but we haven't had to/don't want to use those as they require a lot of water testing and treating afterwards. It's got a supply from the mains water as well and a waterfall soak-away to one side.

TBH, my dad is the expert in the pond, I've just picked a few things up along the way!

Edited by danyeates on Thursday 10th February 08:41

[danyeates]

RichB said:

headcase said:

How about something like this?
ELECTRIC-FENCE-KOI-POND-HERON-CAT-FOX-MINK-SCARER

Interesting idea, I would be interested to know if any koi keepers have tried it with success?

Doesn't work for us I'm afraid. My dad is always losing koi out of his pond. He has two electric fences, they're angled, one faces towards the pond and the other faces outwards. Doesn't seem to bother the heron at all. We use a plastic hexagon mesh which interlocks and covers the pond. Seems to work so far, and an air gun if it doesn't.

[danyeates]

GTDNB said:

nice to see you on the koi forum, boosted.

danyeates said:

Funny you should mention that magazine, this is our pond on the front cover!

http://www.koimag.co.uk/magazine/issue/136-summer-...

It's a good read and shows the contruction diary.

stunning pond - i recognised it as soon as i scrolled down and saw the first pic. may i ask who did the fibreglassing for you?

Thanks. The previous owner of the house actually had it built as he was heavily involved with the koi club and breeding etc. He comes over a lot though as he's friends with my dad. It's actually at my dads house so I don't get to see if that often. I don't know who did the fibreglassing but I'll have a look through the build in the magazine at the weekend.

Edited by danyeates on Thursday 10th February 08:48