I live in an urban area of Kansas City and have plenty of red fox, raccoons & opossums. Only the raccoons seem to bother with the water plants (they seem to be partial to my water iris) and fish. You might try a motion activated light to scare them away. If you try tapping & releasing them, try marshmallows & peanut butter (you do have to take them some distance or they will come back & there are laws in many areas about relocating wildlife). When I rebuilt my pond I made it 3 feet deep with strait sides & no marginal planters convienient to the edge, problem seems to be solved (now if I could keep them from washing this dinner in the bird bath & mudding it up)!

That's a nice set-up, sheri. How are you filtering/ oxygenating the second pool? In the house, do you think that you will be continuing to feed the fish? I have cats too, 2 of whom would no doubt be swimming in that water looking for take-out sushi. I would really prefer to use my basement as well but it's heated and I was kind of hoping to keep the water temp between 32 - 50F to induce dormancy. If I do keep things in the garage, it does seem wiser to run the heater from the onset. Sure as heck wouldn't want the same scenario that jalal found in the dead of winter, especially as I am away from home for long stretches at a time. Gotta love zone 3. I think that I will use an overturned perforated planting basket over the lily plant to prevent fish nibbles. Thank you, sdavis.

oops, I meant to put this thread in the Texas Gardening section, enjoy anyhow.

Texas waterlilies were plugging Marian Strawn for under $10 this Summer. Thats a typical price for tropical waterlilies, on Ebay