Has anyone experienced something like this?

[tigerpaul1977]

First off I have a 400+ gallon pond with two Pleco's, 3 Shubunkin Goldfish and 3 Sarassa goldfish. The 3 sarassa's were the first added and they hid alot until we brought in the shubunkin. They really brought alot of joy to the pond. Well Tuesday of this week I noticed a big bird around my pond trying to get my fish, well I don't think he did but ever since then the fish have been hiding all the time, I rarely see them. I know the bird stressed them out and I haven't seen the bird since Tuesday evening.

I am going to put a net over the pond. Is there anything I can do that will help remove the stress from my fish, I really miss seeing them in there. I still feed them like always and can tell they are eating but it is after I leave the pond area, if I stand back far away I can see them coming to the surface to get the food. Is it just going to take time or will they forever be stressed out? Thanks for your help!

[match55]

I never have pond, but if its a big bird, maybe u can try scare craw OoO?
it will be good if u know wt kind of bird or even take a picture of it.

I guess they just need time to get use to seeing big creature walk close to them, since the big bird scared them off, they might think you actually is the bird. Make sure the bird is not coming back, then your fishes should be fine in time and u will able to see them out soon.

[mfdrookie516]

do you live in city limits? if not, take a 12 gauge to it

[tigerpaul1977]

Yeah unfortunately I do live in city limits, they would probably frown on the gun noise! Like I said I haven't seen the bird since Tuesday, it was clearly a bird that likes to fish long neck, big beak, not the typical black bird or blue jay I normally see.

[mfdrookie516]

oh probably something like a heron or something... they like fish and i think its actually illegal to kill one lol... it probably wont be back, they just move around, we had one in our farm pond for a week or two and havent seen it in a year or so

[tigerpaul1977]

I just want my fish back to normal!! lol!

[mfdrookie516]

well as long as the bird is gone, they wont have a reason to anymore.... once they notice its not around, they'll come out

[DragonFish71]

You can try what we did. We put a medium plastic flower pot in our pond. We got a black one that matched our pond liner and weighted it down with rocks. Our koi and comets use it whenever there are birds or other animals, like our dog around the pond. They come out and swim freely once the coast is clear.