Backyard Animals ·
How to Get Rid of Geese in Your Pond, and Keep Them Out
Geese pick a pond for open water, mown grass and a clear sightline. Change those three things and they leave — plus why feeding and fencing timing matter.
Fish & Ponds
34 guides in Backyard Animals.
Backyard Animals ·
Can You Eat Bass From a Lake? Yes, With One Real Caveat
Lake bass is good eating, but as a predator it concentrates mercury. Check your state advisory, favour smaller fish, and know which waters to avoid.
Backyard Animals ·
Can You Over Aerate a Pond? The Real Risks Are Not Oxygen
You cannot dissolve too much oxygen in a pond, but you can overturn it, strip its CO2, chill it or stress the fish. What over-aeration actually breaks.
Backyard Animals ·
Backyard Fish Farming Kit — 6 Parts That Decide It Works
A backyard fish farming kit needs oxygen, filtration and heat first. We compare 6 components and the species each one suits. See which fits your climate.
Backyard Animals ·
Koi Pond Cover Ideas — 5 Builds, Netting to Frames
Koi pond cover ideas run from leaf netting to a framed predator guard. 5 builds compared on cost and looks. See which suits your pond.
Backyard Animals ·
Pond Aerator Without Electricity — 5 Solar and Wind Picks
A pond aerator without electricity runs on solar or wind, with trade-offs. 5 picks compared by pond size and site. See which matches yours.
Backyard Animals ·
What Can I Feed Koi Besides Fish Food? Greens, Fruit and Prawns
Lettuce, peas, watermelon and prawns all work as supplements. They stay supplements — pellets carry the vitamins a pond cannot, and bread harms.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Get Rid of Snapping Turtles in a Pond
Most snapping turtles do far less damage than people assume. How to judge whether yours is a problem, what the law allows, and the options that work.
Backyard Animals ·
What to Do With an Unwanted Pond: Four Options, Compared
Fill it, restore it, convert it to a bog garden, or let it go wild. What each costs, what permission you may need, and how to pick before you dig.
Backyard Animals ·
Can You Eat Perch? Yes — One of the Best Freshwater Fish
Yellow perch is mild, firm and widely considered excellent eating. The real question is the water it came from, not the species.
Backyard Animals ·
Why Put Hay Bales in a Pond? Barley Straw Fights Algae
Decomposing barley straw releases compounds that suppress algae growth. It works slowly, it must be straw not hay, and the distinction matters.
Backyard Animals ·
Are Turtles Bad for a Pond? Usually Not, With Limits
One or two turtles in a garden pond are harmless and useful scavengers. Where they do real damage is fish stocks, liners and stocking density.
Backyard Animals ·
Can Dogs Drink Pond Water? The Real Risks, Ranked
Most dogs drink from ponds without harm, but blue-green algae can kill within hours. What to watch for, and when a pond is genuinely unsafe.
Backyard Animals ·
How Long Does Pond Dye Last? Four to Eight Weeks
Pond dye typically holds four to eight weeks, less in shallow water or after heavy rain. What shortens it, how much to use, and whether it is safe.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Dredge a Pond: Muck, Methods and Permits
Silt builds an inch or two a year until a pond is shallow and green. The four dredging methods, what each costs, and the permits that catch people out.
Backyard Animals ·
Are Lily Pads Good for a Pond? Cover, Shade and the Limit
Water lilies shade out algae and shelter fish, but past about half the surface they starve a pond of oxygen. The right coverage and how to hold it.
Backyard Animals ·
Can Trout Live in a Pond? Temperature Decides Everything
Trout need cold, oxygen-rich water most backyard ponds cannot hold through summer. The thresholds, the depth needed, and honest alternatives.
Backyard Animals ·
How Much Do Koi Fish Cost? Fish, Pond and Yearly Running
A pet-store koi is $15 and a show-grade one is five figures. What drives the price, and why the pond costs far more than the fish ever will.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Get Rid of Cattails in a Pond, and Keep Them Out
Cattails spread by rhizome, so cutting alone makes them denser. Cutting below the waterline, timing, and why leaving a third of them is sensible.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Hide a Pond Liner: The Edge Is the Whole Problem
A visible liner rim is what makes a pond look artificial. Overhanging stone, a bog shelf, planted margins and the trick of burying the top edge.
Backyard Animals ·
Can You Swim in a Pond? Safety, Bacteria and What to Check
A pond can be safe to swim in, but not a garden fish pond. The real hazards, the algae you must never enter, and how to tell a swimmable pond from a risk.
Backyard Animals ·
How Deep Should a Pond Be? Depths by Purpose and Climate
A wildlife pond wants shallow margins, koi want four feet, and freezing winters set the floor. The depths that matter, and the shelf plan that serves both.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Remove Fishy Smell From Hands: What Works
Fish odour is an alkaline amine, so acid neutralises it and soap alone does not. Lemon, vinegar and stainless steel, ranked by what actually happens.
Backyard Animals ·
Is Pond Water Good for Plants? Yes — With Two Exceptions
Pond water is a free, mild fertiliser and better than tap water for most plants. The two situations where it does harm, and how to use it properly.
Backyard Animals ·
Large Pond Landscaping Ideas That Work With the Water
A big pond needs planting in zones, not a border around the edge. Shoreline planting, access points, and the mistakes that make a large pond look small.
Backyard Animals ·
What Eats Algae in a Pond? Fish, Snails and What Actually Works
Algae eaters help at the margins, but nutrients cause algae and only nutrient control fixes it. What each species really does, and the order to tackle it in.
Backyard Animals ·
Best Fish for a Small Pond (And How Many It Holds)
Goldfish and shubunkins suit small ponds; koi do not. Stocking limits by volume, which species survive a frozen winter, and what actually eats algae.
Backyard Animals ·
Can Goldfish Live in a Pond? Yes, and Without a Pump
Goldfish overwinter outdoors and survive unfiltered ponds that are deep enough, planted and lightly stocked. What a pump actually buys you, and when you need one.
Backyard Animals ·
Can You Eat Koi? Yes — But Almost Nobody Does
Koi are ornamental common carp, entirely edible and eaten across Asia and Europe. Why the fish in your pond is still a bad dinner, and the real risks.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Fill In a Pond (Legally, and Without Sinkage)
Rehome the fish, check whether you need a permit, remove the liner and muck, then backfill in compacted layers. Why a filled pond sinks for years if you rush it.
Backyard Animals ·
How to Stock a Pond (Including for Free)
Stocking ratios that work, what it costs, and the free routes — state hatchery programs, pond transfers, and why natural colonisation is slower than claimed.
Backyard Animals ·
Snakes in a Pond: Which Ones, and What to Do
Most pond snakes are harmless water-hunting species eating frogs and fish. How to tell them from a cottonmouth, and why removing the food removes the snake.
Backyard Animals ·
What Do Pond Turtles Eat? Wild, and in a Backyard Pond
Most pond turtles start carnivorous and turn increasingly vegetarian with age. What arrives to eat naturally, what to feed, and why they eat your fish.
Backyard Animals ·
Why Do Fish Jump Out of the Water?
Feeding, escaping predators, shedding parasites, and clearing obstacles — plus the one reason that matters if it is your pond fish doing it.
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