Lost all the rest of my goldies

[jackiomy]

I went out this morning to feed my pond fish and the raccoon had been back and took all the rest. It took my fancys about a week ago so we put up a net and fencing but it wasn't enough to deter him. He got every one. It was really hard cleaning up the beautiful white scales scattered on the walkway. I am draining the ponds, cleaning them and I am going to try to save the plants that he tore up. I don't know if I will get any more fish, just the mosquito fish that are in there now.

[paperdragon]

Sorry for your loss. My mom's been wanting goldies for years, but was afraid to get them for the pond for just that reason.

[jackiomy]

Came home to some good news! One of my smaller goldies is fine. We found it in the bottom of the pond with another white one. The white one has some wounds but I moved them to my whiskey barrel and put some aquarium salt in it. Is there anything else I should do? Oh, and I screwed some plastic lattice down securely on top of the whiskey barrel to keep them safe if the raccoon comes back. :swear:

[finsNfur]

What a shame, but I'm glad you didn't lose them all. Hopefully the white one will recover. Have you considered getting a motion-activated water sprayer?

[Rbishop]

Glad to hear some made it thru!

[J double R]

What a shame, but I'm glad you didn't lose them all. Hopefully the white one will recover. Have you considered getting a motion-activated water sprayer?



or a motion-activated bullet sprayer....

[SchizotypalVamp]

I'm so sorry :(. The same thing happened to mine, it was devastating.

[Bettacreek]

I would make sure that there isn't any more than 1/4" spacing on anything that you put over the container or pond. Coons are terrible. We had a natural pond at my dad's place, fed by a natural spring, and brought a few brook trout up from lower in the stream (maybe 2-3 minutes walking distance, so we weren't concerned about ruining ecosystems) and the coons would wade in and try to catch them. They also ate the little turtle. Depending on where your water is at, maybe a motion detecting flood light on your porch or somewhere close? You might be able to try putting a little bit of cat food out for them as well, but I'm not sure how well that would work, as I've never tried it.

[JenniferLynn]

I'm so sorry to hear they got your goldies. I'm a fish newbie but I remember the racoons that messed with our chickens as a kid. Don't feed them or they'll bring the whole neighborhood of coons with them. We had one coon get one chicken then we ended up trapping about 7 of them and still had them around until we locked up the what was left of the chickens really good. The lights or water sprayer sound good...just make them think your fish are more work and risk than they taste good.

[pam916]

I second not feeding them. I know we have lots of raccoons in our neighborhood because I have seen them and I also had them raid my outdoor pond that was at my mom's house. I have kept a pond on my front porch a couple of summers and they have never bothered it. I don't know if it is because it is so close to the house or because of the lighting on the porch at night or maybe both. I think the motion activated light is what I would try or one of those motion activated animal things that they have in the garden section at walmart that makes noise when you walk by it.

[pam916]

I would not feed the raccoons. I would try the motion detector lights and or a couple of those motion activated animal things that you can buy at Walmart garden center, that when you walk by it makes some kind of noise.

[ITHURTZ]

All you can do is cover it, or make it deep enough where the raccoon cant walk out and catch fish. Raccoon wont cause trouble if its to deep.

[Ichthius]

You might look into the pet grade electric fences. You can get ones specificially for ponds but they just jack up the price.

A friend of mine put one around his pond and the raccoons stay away.

We put it on a timer so it only comes on when it's dark.

Best fishes
David
www.goldfishgarage.com

[snapping247]

im soooooo sorry about your loss:( ive had those little ba@#%$#s take all my fish and most of my turtles, luckilly i live in the country and whenever i see one by the pond i shoot it. it may sound cruel but when you spend thousands of dollars on koi, plants and all that stuff just to have those coons come in and distroy it, its frustrating. but i think you should get a motion sprinkler and light. i think that would be the best. i hope you find a solution. and tell the remaining goldies i said to hold in there!) good luck

[artemis]

A roving coon got all my goldfish this winter, too. This is the first time I lost any of my fish (I've had my pond running for 5 years). It's sad when you lose fish you've come to care about. Unfortunately, when you live in suburbia making the pond deep and steep-sided (the only real long-term solution) just isn't an option unless you can fence it in the way you would a swimming pool. I've pulled my pond heater out and let the pond freeze over completely, in the hopes that after a long winter of no seafood, the raccoon will have chosen to move on.

[jackiomy]

I took the remaining two fish to the LFS today. They looked reallly good, the tails are beautiful but they still have some scars. The fish people , they are well respected around here, said they would rehome them for me. On top of that, they gave me store credit so I brought a lonely single cory sterbai home. I put my name in so they will call me when they get more in so I will get him some buddies as soon as I can.