douglas111

if the pond is 2 metres deep ie 6 foot the cause will not be the ice. 6 foot of depth is loads by the standards of ponds and easily enough for any fish. Many huge lakes aren't even that deep and sustain fish of enormous sizes. starvation will not be the reason as the deaths would not all have occured at similar times but would be spread and with a pond of such a size starvation is unlikely. it is possible that malnutrition contributed making them weak if the pond was bare of weeds. such an enourmous pond of 5 metres by 15 should easily have sustained them. disease and poisoning are possible. Some chemicals such as wd40 even in minute quantities can poison whole lakes. they may have been struggling to survive and then somefactor such as the cold finished them off but were they healthy that wouldn't have occured. they most likely died and then were frozen when floating on the surface. the fact that they got frozen in the ice as it formed on the surface meant they were dead on the surface allready and that it wasn't low oxygen levels caused by the ice. Issues with oxgen levels won't have caused it as a pond of that size and when at this time of year when the water is cool would easilt be high enough unless chemical imbalances in the water or severe eutrofication had occured ie you have tons of algae or unless you have a surface covered by duckweed. to determine the cause check water ph ect if you really care inspecpt the dead fish for signs of disease such as any unusal growths. it sounds to me like water quality issues or possible but less likely ( as such a fish kills are rare ) disease. They may have been diseased especially if they were from a river ( rather than a carefully maintained fishing lake ). unless the water is of poor quaity you probably won't find out the reason. theere is no real problem having roach in a pond especially one of that size although taking them alive from a river/lake probably should have only been done with enviroment agency permission but thats a law no kid really cares about and isn't really enforced other than by the fishery ( they could get cross at the theft of their stock ).

i'd like to transport a koi about 50 miles in a car! how does one do it so that a) the water doesn't slosh everywhere as it would in a tank the oxygen levels remain high c) the fish is as relaxed as possible. Are there arny links anybody knows of? are there any ways people have tried without specialist equipment that costs the earth? are there any tips/advice anybody knows of?

in response to the argument that they will hide deep down ect i disagree, with tench yes but small pike ty and stay in shallow water to avoid predation by larger fish, larger pike also seem to have a habit of hanging in hte shallows to hunt. i have often seen small pike and large pike chilling in shallows and in easy to see places but small tench, carp,gudgeon,bullheads,bream and stone loaches are far harder to see as they tend to hide in the depths of hte water and are not often seen.pike do enjoy basking in shalow water that heats up.

you are correct that you won't be able to see them as well as other fish but perhaps that is part of the alure. they will be difficult to lookafter but with koi one can't plant a pond, at least with pike they won't continually dig up the plants. With regards the link that the user synonomous gave me EA permission is not required as pike are a native species and the pond falls within the legal definition of an ornamental pond. Were this not the case one wouldn't find many specialist fish sellers selling them ( althought they do so at ridiclous prices and the ones i have found are all up north ).

um, i would say that stunting them is ok morally and physicaly for the pike . number 1) whenever a largeish fish eg a carp kept in a smallish body of water stunting is likely and is considered ok, all mirror carp can grow to 30+ pounds but that they don't is because their growth is stunted by being kept in ponds, so it is normal when keeping fish 2) in commercial fisheries most fish stunt because of overstocking and in lots of other bodies without preditors yuo get tons of small stunted fish, so it does happen naturally 3) in the wild a female pike can produce 300,000+ young a season of which only a tiny fraction live to adulthood so any individual pike is unlikely to survive and starvation of young pike is one of the main reasons they don't along with being eaten by other fish/animals so the individual pike will have a better life and were it a rational animal would choose my pond over a minimal chance of maturing in the wild 4) the pike won't be totally stunted, as if they are really short on food they eat each other so i'd only partially limit food and space when they were young and then increase it as they mature. there are several people on this forum that have kept pike, could any of them tell the method by which they obtained them?

am keen angler with large-ish 20' *10' *4' filtered pond and can get hold of as many prey fish as possible ( i'll need to keep it topped up with prey to prevent them eating each other). i know that they must be kept in groups or the females will spawn up and die when they can't breed with males. the problem is that i can only get hold of large ones. i know where there are lots of 6"-9" pike but they won't take any of my tiny live-baits or spinners and the depth they live in is about 6" ( or less!!!!!!!!) so fishing isn't easy. they seem to just sit there, i have had lines out all day and they were the tiny fry that they were in the lake and were less than an inch long. i actually think that they would be more challenging quarry than are large pike because there is no literature and its all working it through for youself like your the first angler. the problem is that i can;t catch them. they also are way too quick to be taken with nets or with my nets. i was wondering if anybody in this forum had ever caught these tiny critters before. i just figure that small ones will a) fit in better as they wo't know the wild and they'll naturally stunt to fit well but with normal methods small pike under a couple of years old never get caught and they certainly don't take deads. they seem to merely eat each other where i fish for them ( the only thing i have seen them eat is pike as big as themselves ) other challenges about catching them is that they live in reeds so if they pull away and you don't strike quickly they'll get all snagged up though i do know of clear placs where there are loads ( tho its hard to cast as to get there you must be in a bush with no casting ). i amaware that some places such as warf aquatics nottingham sells them along with stillwater "lake" barbel BUT i imagine they cost a pretty penny and i live in london and i'd like certain genetic make-ups ( with many diff pike populations having different characterics from red finned bright green to hte white english river pike and then the english pugnosed pike and the pike that are a deep brown and the populations with huge heads and those with bright yellow fins see and then there are non native types of pike like the amur pike see http://www.pacgb.co.uk/aboutpike/oddities.htm for pictures )

mr. wiggly said that roach usually live in fast flowing water. they don't, they normally live in still or slow moving water and can be kept in tanks so so so easily as can rudd and many other course fish. gudgeon are also so easy to keep as are carp and many other fish. they just need normal filters and oxygenators. i kept my tench ( golden and green ) in tanks for years before putting them in my ponds and they have grown on to a few pounds and were good and as easy to keep as any tank fish and imo easier to keep than most tropical fish. some fish such as pike, perch, barbel, trout,char,the common bullhead and grayling require more expertise/effort/equiptment. Most other fish i can think of are easy to look after so long as they don't outgrow the tank. i have kept minnows and they have been so easy. no probs and they are better for the enviroment as should they escspe or somehow end up released or have their eggs trabsferred they can't become invasive in the way in which certain fish like the top mout gudgeon and sun fish have become.

no reason that rudd/golfish combo wil not work tho when stocking in aquarium ensure that the fish are not too crowded s refer to information relating to total fish inches/wieght to gallonage of tank and unless huge you may need a filter or to change water often and unless stocking is very low you should have airation