How can I stop insects eating the fry in my pond?

    In a pond a certain amount of wildlife is inevitable and generally welcome. Among the animals that add colour and life are insects such as dragonflies and damselflies. Along with these are other small predators such as diving beetles and all of these have aquatic larval stages that can pose a threat to tiny fish fry. 

    This situation is nothing new for pond fish and it is the reason why they produce such massive numbers of eggs: if they all became adult fish, then there'd be little room for the water in most ponds! It's only in facilities such as fish farms that these threats are removed and the maximum number of fry reared. For the home fish keeper, feeding these tiny fish well to encourage strong growth is a good tactic and enables them to outgrow most predators while still maintaining a balanced environment. 

    For indoor fish breeders, predatory insects are only likely to be a problem if introduced accidentally with live foods and if you're using animals such as Daphnia as food, it's worth checking potential meals for insect larvae.

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