I have a pond about 1,800 gallons on my farm in Maryland. Originally I wanted it to be a koi pond, but I have an issue with predators. Specifically, I have seen a blue heron fishing out of the pond on a couple of occassions. I know there are also a lot of raccoons around.

Then more recently, my husband threw in a small bass from a fishing trip (he's survived quite well, but I believe bass eat anything they can). And I noticed I have a northern water snake living in the pond as well. This is in addition to about a million frogs and tadpoles. (I'm sure that's why the bass and snake are happy there).

So now I'm wondering if I should get "sport fish" like bass and catfish, or remove the snake and bass and get koi. I'm thinking of putting a bunch of feeder goldfish in there first to see how many survive. I was also thinking of putting a bunch of stuff along the bottom for fish to hide in and around. What other kinds of fish would survive in the pond? Any ideas?