Help! My fish are disappearing

[ellert]

It seems as though some animal is making the fish in my pond a late-night snack. A couple of months ago, I noticed that a couple of my fish were no longer in my pond. And, just last night, I turned on the outdoor light and saw a opossum walking along the upper part of my fence. I don't know if he's the culprit, but something like that has to be happening. A year ago, I started with three koi and three goldfish (to liven things up), and now I'm down to just two koi.

My pond is a preform and above ground. So, it's not like this animal can simply sit on the ground and "fish" out the fish. And, I've rarely seen the fish come to the surface on their own, unless I'm feeding them. Can someone please offer advise/solutions on how to get rid of predator(s)?

Much thanks!

[kimberly]

We had two ponds when we were in the Dallas area, one was in-ground, the other above ground. We caught a stork/crane (don't remember exactly which) fishing one day.

No advice, but thought this might help you to figure out who is eating your fish since one could easily enter the above ground one.

Kimberly

There are many possibilities of critters who could be eating your fish. Opossum, raccoon, several different snakes, snapping turtles, various birds, herons, kingfishers, etc...

Do you have a good amount of hiding places for the fish? Lots of plants, driftwood, rock piles are all good hiding spots. IMO, hiding places are your best bet, the smart fish will hide when something comes splashing around the pond, and the dumb fish, well, they're prolly gone already!

[mumrah]

I would recommend some netting to put over the surface of the water. I believe they sell things like this especially for ponds that are made of fish friendly material, and are also barely visible.

People usually use these things to keep their suicidal fish from turf-surfing, but i bet it would keep predators from munching on your fish.

HTH,
David

[ReefNooB]

another thing is to get pots and cut a hole in the side and flip it upside down, and put some of your marginals on top of it to keep it down

[Toirtis]

A heron is my first suspicion, a raccoon my second. To scare off herons, the best thing is a good, fake heron place at pondside....a heron will not land at a pond where he already sees another heron. As to a raccoon, you will need a motion-sensor driven repellant to keep him out, or a very strong and secure (remembering that raccoons can open latches) screen lid for the pond.

[ReefNooB]

Another good thing to protect your pond is a nice territorial dog.... keeps out racoons, birds, opossums and anything else you can think of.

[PondFond]

my uncle had that problem so he strung chicken wire over his pond and attaced a car battery to the fence, Letting it have an electrical charge, the next morning the neighbour's car was dead in the water. BAD IDEA.

try a pond net. they seem to work. ot a electric wire around the pond(dont like personally) but the net should work.