The only pond I've had was a small ornamental goldfish pond that held about 800 gallons. I had a healthy population of fish that were breeding. I was even selling some fish to the local pet store. This little pond was 12 feet from my back door and the house was in Miami.
All the fish where different shapes and colors so it was easy to identify individuals. At some point I started noticing that certain fish seemed to be missing. Then I saw the giant splat of bird sh()t next to the pond. Great Blue Heron.
My little pond was a concrete box about 8 feet X 3 1/2 feet so I just made a screen for the top. That solved the predation problem, but it sure made the pond less enjoyable. Anyway, that obviously won't work on a farm pond.
When I get my pond stocked I don't want to spend time fighting with wild predators, so I'm trying to come up with a rational that will allow me to accept the losses.
Here goes...
What if I was willing to spend $XXX/year for a worry free, labor free, invisible method of stopping predation?
Okay now, what if I took that $XXX and simply bought more stockers?
See where I'm going with this? What say you?
