New pond depth

[Aquaman91]

Im currently digging my first pond and was wondering how deep should I make the deepest point? Currently I have it at 30 inches/2.5 feet is that good enough to prevent the fish from freezing and to protect from predators.

thanks.

[gklaw]

30" is not deep enough for the Racoon as far as I know. I am going 48".

[Kei]

MIN 4 FEET under ground to protect koi from freezing when temp drops below 0.
2years ago/last year pounds 3 feet froze and all koi and goldfish died.

[2wheelsx2]

The main thing I understand for raccoons is to make sure there are no "steps" at the edge of the pond where the raccoon can wade in and go fishing.

[April]

Or no logs to sit on and snag as they go by.

[Aquaman91]

I should have asked this earlier I already bought 10 x 12 pond liner, if I make it any deeper my pond will be like 4X3 only lol. And I dont think can I dig much further because I have an extremely rocky backyard, and I am finding big rocks that are hard to remove by hand.

I plan on keeping goldfish so would it be okay to use anti racoon/herron stuff like the scarecrow, fencing and a pond heater or deicer in the winter, instead of making it any deeper?

[2wheelsx2]

I think if you use the heater in the winter and keep the sides vertical you should be fine.

[Aquaman91]

I think I will keep it at 30 inch depth and get 2-3 goldfish and animal proof the pond as best as possible, thanks everyone for the quick responses

[Kei]

u could always raise the sides above ground, make the total area deeper. but like u said u already bought the liner. and a heater will probably help if worried.

[Aquaman91]

u could always raise the sides above ground, make the total area deeper. but like u said u already bought the liner. and a heater will probably help if worried.

Yea I have to do that anyways since my backyard slopes downward quite a bit, to prevent any excess rain water/ chemicals etc. to flow into the pond.