fish eating lilies ?

[koiguy1969]

buckry....as i stated in the other thread...your largest koi is 5"...not much of a threat yet... a few years from now...you attitude will likely change...at 15" and up they progressively do more and more damage....wait and see. when my fish were 5" everything was fine as well. but, then it can depend on the demeaner of the fish, you may be one of the few lucky ones...mine seem to destroy just for the sake of destroying things....many times i have pulled 20 or more lillie pads out of the pond, torn off and floating. stem and all. how many here have had their pots turned on the side, or lillies pulled right out of the pots... or other plants pulled out and floating. heck your fish just arent of size yet to give you the problems. but they will be...and in a few years you'll be complaining about it on the forum!

 

[buckry]

Well, that was one of the first things I learned about koi from reseaching so I'm prepared for that, not really a huge loss. I better bookmark this thread though so I can make a huge basket when the time comes.

 

[Rivermist]

Buckry I just got the hyacinth so no spreading so far. Now I don't know when they pull the roots away if it's big damage for the plant (they don't pull everything but little by little it could get worse ).

koiguy my fish are 5" and less... and they have nasty bites when they decide.

 

[buckry]

My hyacinths only are 2 weeks old so you can expect yours to start going crazy soon, just look for 2 plants attached together by a tube. You can cut that tube and you'll have 2 plants. Each of the 20 I bought has split at least once, I'm probably at 45 or so plants, although right now a few of them are tiny. It won't take long, you should be able to win out over the fish this year, but since they're small it sounds like in a few years they will turn the tables and really destroy stuff. That's something you should probably plan for right now, better to have your game plan in place before they figure this stuff out.

 

[Rivermist]

ho wow that sounds really cool. I only got 5 and one of them bloomed... will look out for the "tubes"

As for my fish I don't know how much bigger they will get, I will see. How things evolve and will get them some "toys" they were a lot more peaceful in dirty water lol my lilies were gorgeous back then.

 

[Rivermist]

so I eventually reintroduced my lilies... and the fish are attacking again. they are fed, they have other plants? they just destroy the lilies. No parasite on the plant nothing... they don't want water coverage, that's gonna be their problem !

But I wanted lilies bouuuuuh !

 

[addy1]

Darn can't help you with that, my fish ignore the lilies. (not koi)

 

[j.w]

My goldies only eat the decaying leaves of the waterlilies............good little vacuum cleaners

 

[addy1]

Well I am going to groom the big pond lilies today jw, will let you know if I find eaten decaying leaves, never noticed it before. Sure would make it easier to care for. But looking into the water saw a bunch of dead flowers untouched by fish.

 

[sissy]

Yep I have seen aggie turn over one of those plant rings in just a few seconds after i turned my back .I went to using the pool noodle and so far she has not touched them .Just waiting to see .I did get her a couple of those floating LED flower lights they had at walmart at 2.5o cents and at night i can see the fish pushing them around .I was trying to take pics and the light just kept being pushed around.The batteries only last a week and when you take them out of the water the sensor on the bottom turns it off when it is not wet .I get the batteries at the dollar store 4 for a dollar and each one takes 2 batteries and guess they would last longer if I remembered to take them out .I bought 2 of them to see what happened and then went back for more and they put them on the clearance isle and I got them for 1 dollar

 

[Rivermist]

I know it's a mystery !

Sissy I have to place an order on the walmart website, will get some of those... if they wanna play...

My lilies were so amazing last year I can't believe what the fish are doing this year. And they attack the brand new pads arfff ! lol

Gonna move them to a pond that has no fish...

 

[Rivermist]

they don't seem to have them on the website...

 

[j.w]

addy my fish only nibble on the brown decaying stuff on the pads but I never see them touch the old lily flowers so still need to maintain most of it and they never eat all the decaying pads either. Maybe if I had a ton more fish they might be able to keep up but then I'd have a ton more poo! So you still have to slave away, no getting out of it :sad:
Keeps you cool in that hot weather too :razz:

 

[sissy]

no just found them in the store and those large christmas ornaments end of season grab them and plug up the end they love those also .Dollar store is a great place for bright colored small balls .I have totes I use when i fertilize my lilies .

 

[addy1]

addy my fish only nibble on the brown decaying stuff on the pads but I never see them touch the old lily flowers so still need to maintain most of it and they never eat all the decaying pads either. Maybe if I had a ton more fish they might be able to keep up but then I'd have a ton more poo! So you still have to slave away, no getting out of it :sad: Keeps you cool in that hot weather too :razz:

I swatted at a horse fly while grooming them, next thing I knew I was floating! lol, sure was refreshing...............