I am building a new pond

[Usman]

I marked out a 5'x9' area and called 811, just to make sure there are no underground utilities.
View attachment 97644

The cinder block is where I plan on placing the waterfall.

create 2 or 3 rings inside and if you want natural look , dont go for straight square , go for rounded irregular edges

 

[carolinaguy]

Fish jump. Keep your sidewalks vertical. Slanted sideways are a launching ramp for your most expensive fish. I build my sidewall at least 6 inches above the water level to help keep them in but the occasional Olympic athlete still manages to escape. Looks great.

 

[Usman]

Fish jump. Keep your sidewalks vertical. Slanted sideways are a launching ramp for your most expensive fish. I build my sidewall at least 6 inches above the water level to help keep them in but the occasional Olympic athlete still manages to escape. Looks great.

correct me if im wrong . your saying that no shelf at border ie deep water and then a border ?
this is good if you have herons but more chances that fish will jump in steep vertical border as they use deeper water like projectile using there tail , they cant jump from shallow water straight up and this shelf adds buffer safe distance horizontally from ground . if border is after deep water then should be at least foot distance between or more. they can easily jump over 2 feet
see this eg , border starts from deep water how easy for fish to jump over foot

 

[Mr.Wizard]

I am going for a similar look to the pond in that video. I didn't consider the fish jumping out, do gold fish jump much as opposed to koi? I was going to go with vertical sides mainly to keep raccoons from getting the fish.Because I am going 18" deep would it be best to make the the ring 9" deep and 9" wide? I just don't know If I want the ring all the way around the pond. I would rather have just the backside have a step to place plants on and the front be vertical for viewing.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Shelving does not need to cover the entire inner circumference of your pond. Design should be on planned usage.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I am going for a similar look to the pond in that video. I didn't consider the fish jumping out, do gold fish jump much as opposed to koi? I was going to go with vertical sides mainly to keep raccoons from getting the fish.Because I am going 18" deep would it be best to make the the ring 9" deep and 9" wide? I just don't know If I want the ring all the way around the pond. I would rather have just the backside have a step to place plants on and the front be vertical for viewing.

Vertical sides do not make your pond raccoon-proof. They are proficient swimmers.

 

[Usman]

I am going for a similar look to the pond in that video. I didn't consider the fish jumping out, do gold fish jump much as opposed to koi? I was going to go with vertical sides mainly to keep raccoons from getting the fish.Because I am going 18" deep would it be best to make the the ring 9" deep and 9" wide? I just don't know If I want the ring all the way around the pond. I would rather have just the backside have a step to place plants on and the front be vertical for viewing.

yes 9inch deep & wide will be ok for plants , if you dont want shelf , you can have some hollow bricks and pots over it for plants as your pond is shallow it will be easy
levels are made for plants as-well as for clearing water it reduces particles to the deepest level , beside that if you have cold winters or warm summers then you will need a deepest level which will have steady temp.
No , Gold fishes dont jump out
For raccoon you may ask others but i think you cant stop them from vertical borders , you may need netting .

 

[carolinaguy]

The shallow shelf idea is a good one to restrict the fishes velocity. A vertical side isn't a perfect solution but it's better than a slant. If you want more protection from escaping fish, use bushes near the side or invisible fishing line as a banking board. As for heron, the only effective protection is the two string fishing line and bushes to prevent them from walking up to the pond edge. As waders they don't fly in. I've seen one idea that has some merit additionally. Hang a long mirror on a line from a Shepard hook. The wind makes it move and the heron thinks it's another heron. They are territorial. You still have to move it occasionally to another place because they catch on eventually. As for raccoons, good luck. River otters are even worse. I've never had a problem with an eight inch tall edge in a deep pond.

 

[Lisak1]

That video was rather depressing! I kept waiting for someone to come rushing in and save the poor fish! They are definitely strong jumpers. We have one that will come up out of the pond for food - we have to make sure the grandkids don't drop any pellets on the rocks near the edge or she will climb right out to try to get them.

 

[carolinaguy]

correct me if im wrong . your saying that no shelf at border ie deep water and then a border ?
this is good if you have herons but more chances that fish will jump in steep vertical border as they use deeper water like projectile using there tail , they cant jump from shallow water straight up and this shelf adds buffer safe distance horizontally from ground . if border is after deep water then should be at least foot distance between or more. they can easily jump over 2 feet
see this eg , border starts from deep water how easy for fish to jump over foot

The shelf idea is a good one as the border to suppress fish jumps and deep water to foil heron. Just make sure the heron can't stand on the shelf and spear fish. You can place pots with plants on the shelf. We did that in our last pond.

 

[addy1]

I have fought heron since we built this pond, they stand in the shallow area, they stand on the edge of the pond in deep area, they flew in and floated, they stood on the pots on the one shelf I have,( knocked them over) they try anything and everything to get to the fish.

My high hung wide weave net is all that has finally stopped them from fishing in the pond.

 

[carolinaguy]

Vertical sides do not make your pond raccoon-proof. They are proficient swimmers.

Meyer is right although I've not witnessed a raccoon diving into deep water. They usually fish on the surface. The only solution to mammalian predation is a gun permit. One of our club with a koi farm got hit by a river otter family on a weekend. He estimated that they killled thousands of small koi and appeared to do it for sport. The field looked like a fishy hacksaw ridge with all the fish carcasses. Got a farmer's permit to shoot them. As for heron, the three string invisible fishing line trick works fairly well. They figure out how to step through two strings.

 

[addy1]

I had Fishing line strung 6 inches apart from ground to 3 feet up, the herons went through it.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I had Fishing line strung 6 inches apart from ground to 3 feet up, the herons went through it.

Yep. Netting, by far, is the best deterent, but even it is not 100% effective as these are patient and determined birds.

 

[addy1]

Yep. Netting, by far, is the best deterent, but even it is not 100% effective as these are patient and determined birds.

It has stopped them, so far, for the past few years. I see them fly over, pause as they look down, then they keep going.
The wide weave does not trap any other critters, before I used it I had trapped a few small birds, etc, with deer fencing. So sticking with the wide weave.