Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

This forum is for discussing pike.
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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Harry H, Julian &, in particular, Shaun - I now have "pond envy" & feel somewhat lacking in the size department :( .

However my waterfront is due to expand as neighbours a few doors up are re-landscaping their garden & were going to dump a glass fibre pond that's nearly as big as my pike pond. I've duly re-cycled it & will put it in right next to the other two ponds once the weather turns & digging gets easier.

Thanks for all of your replies gents.

BigFish - you should install a glass bottom in your home. For a man who built his own punt that should be a suitable project for the close season!!

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Mario
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Mario »

id love to have pond with carp in but I live in a flat with a shared garden so no can do

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Leveller
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Leveller »

I used to have a big big fish tank, I had various fish over the years to study them and to enjoy them,
Carp nearly died from getting the eel stuck in its mouth more than once, the chub grew the most from pure greed, the crabs used to climb up the aeration pipe and get out , then my beagle would bark at it until I rescued said crab.

Would love another but I'm never in the same place long enough, I learned so much just from watching them, infinitely more entertaining than the tv.
Well done for saving the pike in a pikle would like an update and even a picture if it's possible,.?

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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Leveller,

He/she is still with me.

@ 8" long now (was@6" at first).

Little chance of a photo' as very timid. Only comes out from the weed for enough time to grab the poor worm & vanish back again!

The pond is now protected by netting but I think a heron has paid a visit, hence the pike's reluctance to leave the weed.

JohnL

Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by JohnL »

I had a couple of ghost koi (3-4 lb) in my garden pond that regularly used to jump out onto the path or into the flower bed. I would return them dry and crispy, holding them upright for twenty minutes and they would come back to life, none the worse for wear. They disappeared in the end, I guess foxes carried them off when they jumped out at night.

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Northern Eel
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Northern Eel »

about 20 years ago I caught a small Tench (about 1lb 6oz) from a local pond that was stuffed with fish at the time, it was one a chuck & I decided to take it home & put it in my dads (newly dug) garden pond.
I had to carry a (very heavy) bag full of water & the fish about 2 miles home, across numerous barbed wire fences & through a field with a bull in it, a bull that hated me!
I was glad when I got it home & my dad was happy with his "wild" fish.
It lived happily alongside the orfe & the small koi for quite a few years, although it was very shy & nervous, when the other fish were out basking the little tench always liked to hide in the weed, a few years later all brightly coloured "show off" fish were eaten by a heron, but the tench survived.
The ornamental fish were often replaced but usually vanished pretty quickly once the greedy heron spotted them, in the end, when my dad got bored feeding the herons with goldfish, the little tench had the pond to himself.

Quite a few years later, my dad decided he was going to fill in the pond & have his garden refurbished, I insisted he drain the pond first & check for the tench as I intended to move him to a local pond.
Unfortunately,
he was gone
:Cry:
"Chasing frothy bubbles while the world is full of troubles"


"Simple pleasures maybe, but very real ones, which seem all the more precious in these restless modern days."

'BB' Denys Watkins-Pitchford

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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Commiserations Northern Eel.

They don't live forever so maybe it just passed on naturally.

How many years had it been in the pond [& bearing in mind that a 1lb 6oz tench has already see a few seasons]?

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Northern Eel
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Northern Eel »

CraigM wrote:Commiserations Northern Eel.

They don't live forever so maybe it just passed on naturally.

How many years had it been in the pond [& bearing in mind that a 1lb 6oz tench has already see a few seasons]?
If I remember right, it was the summer of 1997 or 1998 & the pond was filled in around 2004/5
"Chasing frothy bubbles while the world is full of troubles"


"Simple pleasures maybe, but very real ones, which seem all the more precious in these restless modern days."

'BB' Denys Watkins-Pitchford

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CraigM
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by CraigM »

Sadly, pet pike passed away in March :Cry:

I have to say that I was quite gutted when I found it at the side of the pond where it had fallen into one of the shallow troughs where I'd put waters edge plants.

No marks on it & it may well have swum over the edge of the pond where it was overflowing due to the heavy rain.

At least it lived 10 months longer than if it had been dispatched at the work party the previous May.

However, the relief of the other pond life was short lived. This week I replaced it with another 7" pike that was caught during weed clearance at the fishing pond & was also about to be knocked on the head!

It has been amazingly quick to change it's colouring/ camouflage. When it went in on Weds night it was a dull greyish colour overall with little marking (having come from a very muddy pond). By this morning, ie. 36 hours later, it has adapted to the clear water in the garden pond with very obvious brown & green stripes.

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Santiago
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Re: Pet Pike [or any other coarse fish for that matter].

Post by Santiago »

Hi Craig. Just wondering why the work party are clearing the water of pike!?

My pet minnows and bullhead are all doing fine. I often watch them instead of the tv.
"....he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy"

Hemingway

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