Fish in duck pond

[My2butterflies]

This will be my first year with ducks and I have some questions.

I already have a koi pond and just setup a separate duck pond. Now I know ducks eat fish, but just little fish....right?
I’m sure the ducks will eventually come visit the koi pond despite having their own, so what size fish are vulnerable to ducks?
My smallest koi are 6” with most being around a foot or longer. And their pond is over 4’ deep. (Not sure how far down ducks dive)

Another question is do any of you guys keep small fish in your duck ponds for bug control? Knowing that they could get eaten I was just thinking of using feeder goldfish/guppies/or minnows.
Thoughts? Are goldfish bad for ducks they way they are for turtles?

 

[KaleIAm]

This will be my first year with ducks and I have some questions.

I already have a koi pond and just setup a separate duck pond. Now I know ducks eat fish, but just little fish....right?
I’m sure the ducks will eventually come visit the koi pond despite having their own, so what size fish are vulnerable to ducks?
My smallest koi are 6” with most being around a foot or longer. And their pond is over 4’ deep. (Not sure how far down ducks dive)

Another question is do any of you guys keep small fish in your duck ponds for bug control? Knowing that they could get eaten I was just thinking of using feeder goldfish/guppies/or minnows.
Thoughts? Are goldfish bad for ducks they way they are for turtles?

I'm not sure if your ducks will hurt your smaller koi or not. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried. My ducks swim at least 6-8 feet down to the bottom of our pond. They also swim completely under our dinghy and pop up on the other side a good 20 feet away from where they dove in. My ducks love to catch frogs that barely fit down their throats. Ugh.

 

[My2butterflies]

I'm not sure if your ducks will hurt your smaller koi or not. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried. My ducks swim at least 6-8 feet down to the bottom of our pond. They also swim completely under our dinghy and pop up on the other side a good 20 feet away from where they dove in. My ducks love to catch frogs that barely fit down their throats. Ugh.

Oh wow I may need to pen them or fence the koi pond depending on how things go.
I know wild ducks do all that, but I guess I was hoping domestic ducks are more lazy Wishful thinking.

 

[JedJackson]

I would keep the ducks out of the koi pond, and keep fish out of the duck pond. Duck ponds needs to be emptied, cleaned and refilled with fresh water periodically. Otherwise you will end up with a poop swamp. For the same reason, it's best to keep the ducks away from the koi pond.

 

[Suprasoup]

congrats on the ducks! What kind are they?! We need pics of both the ducks and the ponds

I’ll second what everyone is saying. Keep them separate. I have seen my muscovy stay submerged zooming around the bottom of my Koi pond (5’ deep) for over 3 minutes. My Indian runners can do the same though rarely stay under for that length of time. They have not harmed any of the Koi (all over a ft) but that’s more them being excited about getting to play in the big pond vs their own pond. I have red shiners, rosy red minnows and guppies in the koi pond which they chase around and sometimes successfully capture.

I do not keep fish in their pond. They would eat them all as well as any bugs(and plants) that might be in there. That said my duck pond is pretty small and has no places for bugs to hide. Your duck pond may be different. YMMV.

Fish in the cyprinidae family (which goldfish, carp, minnows belong) contain thiaminase which if eaten in sufficient quantities could lead to a thiamine deficiency such as what happens to turtles. Thiamine deficiency is seen in ducks that specialize in fish such as Mergansers and even in eider ducks who feed on mussels (also contains high amounts of thiaminase). Whether that translates to ducks fed a commercial pellet hard to say but I’d be cautious just because we know ducks are susceptible to niacin deficiencies (another water soluble b vitamin like thiamine).

One last note on feeder fish. Most are raised/sold in deplorable conditions. If you do go down this route I’d quarantine them in a hospital tank first. One, to make sure they won’t introduce something to your pond. Second to fatten them up So that the ducks aren’t eating something that’s half starved.

 

[My2butterflies]

I would keep the ducks out of the koi pond, and keep fish out of the duck pond. Duck ponds needs to be emptied, cleaned and refilled with fresh water periodically. Otherwise you will end up with a poop swamp. For the same reason, it's best to keep the ducks away from the koi pond.

That’s kinda what I figured it would need to be once they are old enough to be out without supervision the whole time.

congrats on the ducks! What kind are they?! We need pics of both the ducks and the ponds

I’ll second what everyone is saying. Keep them separate. I have seen my muscovy stay submerged zooming around the bottom of my Koi pond (5’ deep) for over 3 minutes. My Indian runners can do the same though rarely stay under for that length of time. They have not harmed any of the Koi (all over a ft) but that’s more them being excited about getting to play in the big pond vs their own pond. I have red shiners, rosy red minnows and guppies in the koi pond which they chase around and sometimes successfully capture.

I do not keep fish in their pond. They would eat them all as well as any bugs(and plants) that might be in there. That said my duck pond is pretty small and has no places for bugs to hide. Your duck pond may be different. YMMV.

Fish in the cyprinidae family (which goldfish, carp, minnows belong) contain thiaminase which if eaten in sufficient quantities could lead to a thiamine deficiency such as what happens to turtles. Thiamine deficiency is seen in ducks that specialize in fish such as Mergansers and even in eider ducks who feed on mussels (also contains high amounts of thiaminase). Whether that translates to ducks fed a commercial pellet hard to say but I’d be cautious just because we know ducks are susceptible to niacin deficiencies (another water soluble b vitamin like thiamine).

One last note on feeder fish. Most are raised/sold in deplorable conditions. If you do go down this route I’d quarantine them in a hospital tank first. One, to make sure they won’t introduce something to your pond. Second to fatten them up So that the ducks aren’t eating something that’s half starved.

Thanks! Right now we just have two pekin ducklings. We went to get two Ancona ducklings next year, possibly this year if we find some.
The babies

No worries with the feeders. I would never add them to a pond or tank with my resident fish. I really didn’t think about the ducks eating pond bugs. Will they eat Buffalo gnat and mosquito larva? Those are what I’m trying to avoid, hence the fish idea. We’ve had awful bouts of Buffalo gnats on years with flooding so I don’t want to add to the population of the, They make me get huge welts from their bites.
So any fish wouldn’t be intended duck food, but I realize ducks will do their thing and eat them.

The duck pond is very basic. 145g pond form.
The rock is a work in progress. Since I have no idea how easily they can get in and out, I’ll be working on modifying it when the time comes. Same with the filter system. It’s just a small box right now, but I can beef it up as needed. Of course I’ll replace all water as needed, the filter is to keep it somewhat nice and not stagnant.

I have the outlet from the pump behind the rock to it will be out of the way of the ducks swimming. Not sure if you can see it.
Ive also debated on making steps with some concrete scrap to make getting up to the pond easier on their feet.... It will be a lot of watching and changing things as I see a need for something different.

My koi pond I’ve put more work into. Haha. This was what it looked like last year before the pond plants took over.

 

[Suzykool]

Both beautiful...(pond and duckling) Those peeking get big! I just adopted two three month old girls that make my khakis look tiny. Put up a fancy iron fence like at home Depot... Keep that koi separate. Watch for flying birds... Maybe a net cover for that koi pond

 

[Tonyroo]

Ducks can eat 6 inch fish whole with one swallow, when I had Rouen ducks they used my pond that I sometimes stocked with minnows and trout.

They can eat your koi easily.

 

[My2butterflies]

Both beautiful...(pond and duckling) Those peeking get big! I just adopted two three month old girls that make my khakis look tiny. Put up a fancy iron fence like at home Depot... Keep that koi separate. Watch for flying birds... Maybe a net cover for that koi pond

Thanks. Yes they definitely get big
My girls are huge now and it was clear that the original pond I made was too small. So we dug out a bigger one. Of course we also ended up getting more ducklings too and a couple geese.
So far no one has gone into the koi pond. They wonder over that direction, but have never crossed the rock lining the garden area. Not that they can’t, they just don’t.
We are talking about fencing the garden/pond. But that to keep turkeys out. Our new turkeys have been terrors. They eat my plants and poop everywhere. Ugh. My original royal palms from last year are so good I never would have thought the new ones would be so bad.
I’m ready to eat them and start over next year

Ducks can eat 6 inch fish whole with one swallow, when I had Rouen ducks they used my pond that I sometimes stocked with minnows and trout.

They can eat your koi easily.

That was hard for me to picture when they were so little. Now I can definitely see how they could catch and eat fish.
I find their swimming abilities amazing.

 

[getaclue]

You might consider minnows for the duck pond. They also love duckweed, and it's good for them too.