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babylady · Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 43

Hi All

Would love to get 2 ducks but will they eat my goldfish from the pond?

tractorpunk · Joined: 02 Jul 2009 Posts: 37 Location: east Galway

we had a lot of goldfish in our pond before we introduced a few muscovies. the ducks turned the water into olive green soup so it was hard to see any of the young fish but the 3 year olds were definately still swimming about with the ducks for a few months unmolested.
then a heron arrived and that was the end of the fish

blowin · Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:23 pm Post subject:

I am pretty sure that ducks don't eat fish . That is to say they don't intentionally chase them around the pond . They may consume the fish or frog / newt spawn which is attached to the weed which they do eat .
As tractorpunk suggests , the most likely danger to your fish is that the duck's poo will make the water toxic to them unless there is a good rate of flow of clean water into the pond . All of which is a bit academic unless you can keep the heron and mink at bay .
Is your pond static water or fed by a stream ?

babylady · Joined: 31 Dec 2007 Posts: 43

Static water - ye have put me off getting ducks now!!!

Don't want a green sump...!!!

wayland · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 1171 Location: Campile. Wexford

Ducks will eat small fish as any fisherman knows, and they are very dirty animals and will turn a static peace of water into a black smelly mass. Having said that, ducks are used to help feed trout through their droppings. These feed smaller invertebrates which in turn feeds the trout. It is the stocking rate that is important. Too many ducks spoil the broth so to speak.

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