just came in the mail, so a few days of perusing and ill write some ?'s and reviews… what did you guys (people who have it) think of it?
Awesom magazine and great quality paper. Just got my 3rd issue but will continue it in the future.
GolfC
So before i leave for the mountain house i found some time, to read the first paragraphs of long articles and short articles. And while there will be a lot of discussion over this issue i am sure, as 75% of it is over a controversial topic. There was something, that i had talked about at the last meeting, that showed up again…
For people who don’t know, right now there is a movement to put 83 species of stony coral on the endangered species list. There are a lot of species of Acropora, euphyllia, Montipora, Turbinaria, and Acanthastrea. Basically, they signed a petition and NOAA and NMFS are being forced to look into it. So there is a 90 day window ending on April 12th. Well you say no big deal, but it would make it illegal for imports of the coral, for internal selling of the coral, and to propagate it you would need a license. So for a lot of common coral we as hobbiest would be “hindered” in propagation. Basically, the price of the corals would sky rocket, and most trading would be illegal. So now is the time to buy per se.
The funny thing was the organization filing the movement. This is hilarious, it is full of environmental, tree hugging,people. Now, i probably should not have used that word, and i am all for the protection of the environment, but the things this group does, somehow, makes that colloquialism proper to use here. The article goes on to talk about this group, The Center for Biological Diversity. So this group, while involved with saving sea turtle, wales, and trees, also supports human regulation. Get this, on valentines day they started their “Condoms for Endangered Species” program. They hope that by slowing human growth the environment will be saved. So On V-day they handed out 100k condoms, and each wrapper said the following “Wrap with care, save the polar bear.” And all my respect went out the window. I mean 100k out of what 6-8 billion now. While, i wish i had seen them because free stuff is amazing, why would you do this? Controlling humans? REALLY! So needless to say, the deadline is April 12, 2010. At this date we will find out if the stony coral trade goes on, and whether or not Soft corals become a focus again.
So what do you guys think? Should we hinder human growth? Put these corals on the endangered species list? Free condoms?!?
Coral Magazine, Volume 7: Number 2, pg 10-12
Another funny story is Fish thieves. Supposedly in england people are using Google earth to locate peoples Koi ponds. Then they go, steal the couple hundred bucks a pop fish, and then escape into the night. Wow, some people sink to a all time low. Can you imagine that waking up and you fish are gone, ha.
~~ Coral Magazine, Volume7:Number2, Pg 13~~
hah the jokes on them i didnt get any on v-day
Re people stealing your Koi fish. We live in the woods and I know who steals my pond fish. It’s the heron and egret and sometimes water snakes!
That will get them every time!! As much as i love fish i think losing a koi everynow and again to see a heron is a fair trade! Beautiful animals!!
you wouldn’t feel that way when the bird eats both your largest and prettist fish!
probably not! >LOL<
brett, i have a heron that comes and grabs whatever he can, so far only 1 small koi last spring, but i put a nylon net over the pond and that stumped him completely. he came, landed, tried to figure out a way to get some sushi a few times in the winter before the snow, and gave up. look at the doctors smith/foster pond site for netting.
I also heard that if you make the pond like 4ft deep, the heron won’t want to stand in it, and then won’t be able to catch your koi. Is there any truth to this?
john, this is true if the sides of the pond are straight down, not slanted, and if there is a rise above the top of the water. otherwise, wise ol heron just waits on the land side until a fish swims by and stabs.
no deterrent besides a human or outside dog is very effective. i have tried them all, scarecrow, shiny, flap in the breeze thingies, heron decoys, floating gators. if they can get to their food, bye bye. and once they get 1 fish, they will return until all are gone.
some people use 40 lb monofilament strung all around and over the pond, which looks like crap, breaks down in a year and needs to be restrung.
a good net is the only way, but it catches frogs and snakes and also looks like crap.
some people claim success with a large mirror , but if the heron flies in and doesn’t see its reflection, that’s no good either.
wish i had put the money in my pond into salt water. i’d have a system beyond belief!
I bought a plastic tunnel a couple years ago from the local pond store. It helps a little, but the fish have to be very fast to hide in it before the heron gets them. It is also difficult to keep it from turning upside down. Last summer I did not lose any fish (maybe because of that)
yeah , a herons legs are only about2 feet long and they don’t like to get their butts wet. so a deeper pond with caves in the deep end lets the fish get away and hide.
those motion sensor spray nozzles work pretty good. just remember its range when you go out to feed the fish. or turn it off first.
My father and I started a pond about 6 years ago…
had 11 koi in there and they all started to get Very large, and now we only have 1 of those beauties left… Blue heron came one day when I was at UD and my dad was at work… ate them all except for our largest (weird). The most angering part is that it pecked them to death… and didn’t even eat them fully. Now we have netting on top of the tank, the one koi is still doing great (and Well over a foot in length, probably close to or over two feet) along with 5 other 2 year old koi and one shubumkin (cant spell that lol) and they are all doing great!
Heron still comes around, and sometimes it will stand on top of the net, but we have it on VERY securely now and it has not been able to reach the fish which is great! Sure learned our lesson though, and if they were not protected, I would have already put an arrow through its head 
Too bad its like a 50k fine and jail time if you do that lol