Plant question

[Ursula Huddleston]

How do i keep my fish from eating the plants in the pond? I used to have beautiful Patio Joes in the pond. Unfortunately the last cleaning guy killed them all. Fish never touched them. Can not find any Patio Joes here in Texas anymore, so I tried some other plants, extra hardy or tougher leaves...........within a week the fish eat them all. Tried a net, looks ugly........any ideas? And yes they are fed regularly and enough. Fired the cleaning guy, do it myself these days since I retired. Any help or suggestions are appreciated!

 

[Stephen Noble]

How do i keep my fish from eating the plants in the pond? I used to have beautiful Patio Joes in the pond. Unfortunately the last cleaning guy killed them all. Fish never touched them. Can not find any Patio Joes here in Texas anymore, so I tried some other plants, extra hardy or tougher leaves...........within a week the fish eat them all. Tried a net, looks ugly........any ideas? And yes they are fed regularly and enough. Fired the cleaning guy, do it myself these days since I retired. Any help or suggestions are appreciated!

Are you keeping Koi? How on earth did the cleaning guy kill a waterlily? You mentioned your fish never bothered the plant so if you like Patio Joe why not get another? They are beautiful. A local garden/aquatic center or locally owned pet shop can order more of those plants. They are being propagated in Florida. Really, I would wait and have your order ready for delivery in early spring given you live in Texas. That is unless you are in a warmer area like South Pardre Island.

 

[Ursula Huddleston]

Are you keeping Koi? How on earth did the cleaning guy kill a waterlily? You mentioned your fish never bothered the plant so if you like Patio Joe why not get another? They are beautiful. A local garden/aquatic center or locally owned pet shop can order more of those plants. They are being propagated in Florida. Really, I would wait and have your order ready for delivery in early spring given you live in Texas. That is unless you are in a warmer area like South Pardre Island.

I am keeping Koi. We have a real big pond store here in San Antonio, and he has not been stocking Patio Joes and does not offer ordering. I have ordered some from web sites, but you can't get a real good size, they are all too small. I just wondered how can we keep the fish from eating them?

 

[Lisak1]

I just wondered how can we keep the fish from eating them?

Do they eat the leaves or do they dig up the tubers in the pot?

I'm not familiar with "Patio Joes" - going to google right now!

 

[Ursula Huddleston]

Do they eat the leaves or do they dig up the tubers in the pot?

I'm not familiar with "Patio Joes" - going to google right now!

Eating the leaves

 

[Ursula Huddleston]

Patio Joe

 

[Lisak1]

Ah... Patio Joe is a type of water lily. You learn something every day!

I have koi in my pond with lilies and they have never touched the leaves of my plants. But I have a feeling once they start it can be very difficult to get them to stop. Another member has koi that eats the insides out of any frog that ventures into her pond - never has happened to me, but I have a feeling once they find out how delicious they are, you'd be hard pressed to stop them.

Tell us a bit more about your pond - how many gallons and how many fish? And these are koi, right? I just assumed, but that may have been my mistake!

 

[Ursula Huddleston]

Ah... Patio Joe is a type of water lily. You learn something every day!

I have koi in my pond with lilies and they have never touched the leaves of my plants. But I have a feeling once they start it can be very difficult to get them to stop. Another member has koi that eats the insides out of any frog that ventures into her pond - never has happened to me, but I have a feeling once they find out how delicious they are, you'd be hard pressed to stop them.

Tell us a bit more about your pond - how many gallons and how many fish? And these are koi, right? I just assumed, but that may have been my mistake!

pond is approximately 1800 to 2000 gallons with a beautiful waterfall. Have approximately 4 large koi, some comets and goldfish total of approximately 25. Pond was build in 2008 and until last year no issues, no new fish........

 

[Lisak1]

Well that's a puzzler. All I can say is they found them, liked them and now can't live without them!

Unless you can create an area of the pond that they can't get to, I really don't know of a better solution other than suggesting you feed them more. But like I said, now that they have the taste, they may not be able to leave them alone.