Question for an outdoor pond.

[Jellymolly44]

If you had a large pond about an acre of land, would it be okay to let ducks roam the pond if the koi were a larger size? I mean domestic ducks btw.

[PallasAthena]

Don't most domestic ducks (and mallards) simply eat algae, duckweed, and other plants like that? Sometimes insects? I don't think ducks would be a concern. Of course, depending on size, they could make quite a mess rooting around the pond.

Depending on the size of the fish, cormorants and herons certainly would be a concern, but it would have to probably be a pretty big pond to draw in cormorants. Herons will eat out of even tiny ponds, and those would probably be the biggest danger to your fish.

Or are you worried about the fish meddling with the ducks? I know turtles will eat duck feet, but I'm not sure about fish, although my fish will try to get ANYTHING into their mouths, and a big enough koi might attempt to nibble a duck foot.

[XanAvaloni]

An acre across...but how deep? I suspect with a pond that size your ducks are going to be the least of the problem with predation. Snapping turtles, raccoons, water snakes, hawks, even bobcats are a possibility.

If I had such a pond I would just stock it with the usual bluegill and bass and perch and such. For decoration, a few common goldfish. They will grow every bit as big as koi, they're sturdier, and after a few years of unsupervised breeding I bet there will be some just as decorative as any koi you can name.

I started out with six itty-bitty goldies (1-2 in), 4 all gold and 2 with some white, in my itty-bitty yard pond (about 4x6 foot or so). That was 10 years ago. This year the Senior Fish is about 5 inches long (8 if you count the very large tail) and all gold...but the rest of the herd includes gold and white, gold and black, and two gorgeous total black.

They are not overly bright--it takes about 2 weeks to train them to come to food--but unquestionably good at survival. :)

[PallasAthena]

Was it the pond that is an acre across or the property it's on. I may be confused here. How big is the pond? An acre sized pond is more of a lake! LOL!

[Jellymolly44]

I'm sorry. This is just somethin I dream about and would really like to have. You are right that and acre of water is more of a lake. But that's what I would like. I was just asking because I know ducks poop a lot and was wondering if that would harm the fish. I won't overcrowd with ducks of course neither.

[NorthcoastGirl]

With a pond that size, I wouldn't worry about the ducks. If you have Canada geese in your area, expect them as well. If you plan on feeding the waterfowl- just please don't feed 'em bread. It's really not good for them and soggy bread can foul the pond if there's too much.

I'm jealous, lol. I'd love to have that much land to be able to have a body of water that size! You'll get frogs, turtles, fish....

[pbeemer]

I also am extremely jealous about having that much water -- it's a lot bigger than the lot my house is on!

Although scale is a relative thing -- when looking for native pond fish, I came across a website maintained by the state of Arkansas. Their fish table beganh with the header:

"Except for X, Y, and Z, these fish aren't really suitable for ponds smaller than 25 acres."

[pbeemer]

Ducks (yours and any migrant ducks and geese) will definitely eat any fish they can catch, although if the fish are bigger than ~4" I wouldn't expect the fish to be bothered. The mosquito fish (or whatever you use to keep the bloodsuckers down) may have a rougher time, though. Floating plants would help.

if the pond is well planted (that's really too big to be filtered) you shouldn't have a problem with duck (or fish) poop fouling the water.

If you're going to let your ducks have the run of a pond that's say 200 feet across, you ought to build a smallish (20 foot wide??) island in the middle for them. That should discourage more canine and feline predators, and might even deter raccoons. (Raccoons LOVE ducks.)

Of course, at this point the ducks probably won't be thinking of themselves as domestic any more.

[MrsMoose]

I would love to see pictures of your pond aka lake, Koi people love to have their koi in what we call a mud pond. You can get some really good growth on a koi in a mud pond.I have several friends that pay good money to overwinter their koi in a mud pond.