Fish Need Structure

A good idea to give them a winter hidey hole, otherwise they are sitting ducks in the winter, so to speak!

Yes Paul. On a much larger scale, retired ships, both military and commercial, as well as vehicles, are sunk off of our coast to provide fish the structure they require on an otherwise flat and featureless bottom. From a little plastic flowerpot in a garden pond to a giant battleship in the ocean they both provide and promote thriving aquatic life of all sorts. In the ocean they become artificial reefs.

That's a very good copyable idea Loosestrife. It might even frustrate the herons!

We have some pieces of the downpipe used on the guttering in the bottom of our pond, it doesn't show and has been protecting ours for years, hoping you don't lose your fish again L'strife.....

Hawks love to dive-bomb garden ponds and those bright red gold fish are easy pickins'. Hiding places like that are essential to their survival.

Yes, agree with Steragram, might put off the heron.

We lost over 70 Golden Orfe to one, one year. They're handsome birds but not near a garden pond!

How deep is your pond, Loosestrife?

About 40 inches deep Eirlys. Except for the top 10 inches it was all hard compacted shale and I dug out another pond to the same depth in the same conditions. I have three other ones about 24 inches in depth. In my younger years at the end of a work day, I found that digging holes was a great tension reliever. When the ponds were completed I would dig a hole just for the heck of it and fill it back up. I did find a fine little statue of Saint Joseph while digging, never did know how it got there.