Living in harmony with wildlife often requires compromise. Wild things go about doing their own things without regard to human desires and designs (or Koi), and that often puts us into conflict with each other.

Water features are great for attracting wildlife. They bring in frogs and toads and provide a water source for birds, insects, and other animals. I had a tiny pond in my backyard when I lived in a small college town, and I had frogs singing in my pond in spring and tadpoles weeks after. It was wonderful circle-of-life stuff, and so relaxing to open the windows in April and let our peepers sing us to sleep.

But the pond led to a conflict with some of our local wildlife. You see, we started off stocking our little pond with expensive koi. Koi were the recommended pond fish, so beautiful with their bright colors and long, flowing fins. We loved our koi so much that we named them.

Unfortunately, our neighborhood raccoons decided that they loved them, too. They named them: Monday Dinner, Tuesday Dinner, Wednesday Dinner, and Early Thursday Supper. We knew it was raccoons because they left little muddy raccoon hand prints on the rocks surrounding the pond. We didn’t need a park ranger to tell us who the culprits were. And thus, our beloved koi and a sizeable investment in fish disappeared over the course of a week (or a four-course dinner of a week).

Raccoons are not the only animals that enjoy a tasty, colorful fish dinner. We often provide an easily-accessed bird buffet for herons and egrets. In areas where housing developments abut lakes, rivers, swamps, sea shores, and other natural waterways, these birds are often unafraid of people and houses. They don’t mind braving close proximity to houses to perch on the edge of even tiny ponds, waiting to strike at Olivia, your favorite $50 koi, who is completely unsuspecting of her imminent demise.

Wildlife such as raccoons and herons will visit even small ponds for an easy meal.

After the koi experiment, we decided to stock our pond with less expensive fish. We loved koi’s bright colors, and we wanted something to eat mosquito larvae. So, we bought a handful of 15-cent common “feeder” goldfish from a local pet store. These fish are sold to feed bigger fish, so their life expectancy is pretty short anyway. A close relative of koi, common goldfish come in a variety of colors from black to orange. Surprisingly, their survival rate in our pond was fairly good. We had several that survived winters in our zone 7 pond, growing to be as big as our koi.

Common goldfish aren’t as sexy as koi, perhaps, but they are extremely hardy. Because they aren’t as expensive as fancy koi, they are a great compromise for living with wildlife. Instead of cursing the raccoon or worrying about putting bird-netting over your pond to protect your expensive fish, just toss in some cheap feeder goldfish and enjoy the birds when they come.