[RootRot]

What kind of warranty are you offering with your pond installs, length and materials covered. Anything on fish? Lady wants two of her Koi replaced. A couple of new fish are missing (vanished), I told her a Heron or Raccoon got them, most likely, but she still feels I should replace them. I did replace them. I would feel better about replacing them but she wasn't very nice about it.

Any tips on scaring these freaking critters away or keeping them away all together? Raccoons and Herons that is.

[Dale Wiley]

I never deal with the fish in a pond. The owner is responsible for everything, moving, feeding etc. We set the time we need and we make sure we get it done. We allow at least 24 hours for the pond to clear and settle and then the owner can do what ever they want with the fish.

We also have a release form they have to sign regarding THEIR fish.

[stoneridge]

To keep herons away, put a "real looking" plastic one on the pond edge. Herons are solitary birds. If one flys over and spots the fake heron, it will keep going and find another fishing hole.

Raccoons don't like deep (22-30") water. If your pond has an area with that depth, the fish will be safe from raccoons.

[familyguy]

I can't fathom that someone asked you to replace fish.

Why would you actually do it?

[GLAN]

Originally posted by familyguy
I can't fathom that someone asked you to replace fish.

Why would you actually do it?

Ditto......

[Stonehenge]

When a doctor helps the mother birth her baby, (s)he does not also offer a warranty on that mom's baby - how the baby turns out is up to mom.

I never put anything in our contract about fish, just like I don't put anything in our contract about pianos. We don't install pianos and we don't run fisheries or claim to be fish experts.

Your job is building the pond - their job is raising fish (or bathing in the pond, or whatever).

I would tell the client it was a mistake on your part to replace any fish to begin with, and that you won't be replacing any others, as they aren't your fish, you did not specify them, and you did not oversee their care. Protecting the fish from all predators is miles outside of the scope of your job. Heck, we have a client that stocks his pond with local perch and bass, just so he can watch predatory birds swoop in and eat 'em.

[sleepy]

What a fun day to sit and relax on the ponds edge and watch the osprey nab fish and ohh wait here comes duke l think he just caught another bunny!!
lol
Ok you can tell her to get a "scare crow" sprinkler thing for the coons. Its like a security light but instead of light it turns on the sprinkler (sprinkling in bleach +brommine from the water supply into the pond)great for fish you know.
For birds you can set up a fishing line type wire system over the entire yard so birds wont want to fly throuh it.
The most effective way to have fish in a pond is to have a deep pond so the fish can hide. They arnt stupid you know. My koi know when its me or the cat and when the cat comes they go for shelter under the plants 4 feet deep. Just another ramble from sleepy. Oh the heron look alikes are sold to hunters as decoys to make ducks feel comphy and yes more herons will come (at least blue herons) the endangered kind.

[RootRot]

OK, I admit I should not have replaced the fish, nor will I replace anymore. Thanks...I am a big, dumb, idiot...I agree. And I will not be placing fish in ponds in the future either. One of those foolish "fixes" I am guessing most have done at one time or another in this business that they regret.

It was a tough call at the time. It was just a couple of days after the fish were added and I foolishly said "I'll take care of it for you" but I can see that being the beginning of a apossible series of "now this happened, can you take care of me?"

Anyway, thanks.

[sleepy]

Your not a big dumb idiot.
Shaddup!
You just are honest and there is nothing wrong with that.

[familyguy]

Don't beat yourself up. I have done my share of stupid stuff. The "Welcome" sign across my chest is fading as the years go by.

(a Doormat reference for all you Landscaper's out there....)

Oh, and sleepy, fabulous Duke reference. lol

[Stonehenge]

Yeah, don't beat yourself up about it - every once in awhile I have those situations where as soon as a few words leave my lips, warning bells go off in my head as to the future problems what I just promised is going to cause.

But I wouldn't start fortifying your contract over it. They should not have expected fish replacement, and you got shnookered into doing it. Learn from that and don't do it again.

When people ask me about what kind of fish will live in their ponds, I always tell them - go buy some feeder fish at $.05 apiece. If those live for a year, try something more interesting. They almost never listen to that advice, but at worst I can say "I told you so" if their $100 koi are floating belly up.

[TrickyDick]

It occured to me as I reread this thread that nobody answered the question about what kind of warranty you offer on pond installations and I'm curious about that as well. So what do you offer?

[sleepy]

If I supply the product all my work has a 1 year guarentee in the 10 page contract. Thats where the mark up counts. I wish I could get the 50% profit but all the old loggers and any hippies with a truck are moving into landscaping now.

[TrickyDick]

Yeah Sleepy I worked in Eureka a few years back and there's no shortage of either of those.

[waterfall larry]

There were some ideas that I would have mentioned like making the pond deeper or putting fishing line or a decoy bird.

So let me add to the list.

When you rock out your pond and you should rock out your pond for several reasons, set your rock in a way that fish will be able to swim behing some rocks or duck under some rocks.

Also having some areas of thick dense aquatic plants that the fish can swim into would kill 2 birds with one stone as would a good 12 guage. With plant material you get low cost, visual beauty and a lot of other benefits.

In Atlanta a lot of our koi club people get down right into their koi and a couple of thousand dollars for a stupid fish is a pretty persuasive selling point for critter proofing a pond to the max.

If you show people that you are building waterfalls and ponds that cover every possibility that they might get into, you may increase your pond sales over competitors who might not plan for everything.