Crafty raccoon.. or not so bright ponder

JoaniePA

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Okay.. so I've seen the critter lurking around for about two months now, but the pond sides are steep enough that he hasn't tried anything funny yet. HOWEVER.. I bought a fish feeder. It's one of those things that has a battery in it and you hang it over the pond. Every 12 hours it releases a handful of food. I went away for the weekend and suspended it from a long pole that spanned the pond, and don't you know when I got home this weekend the rocks along the edges by the pole were knocked into the pond, the feeder (which was only about two feet out over the pond) had been dragged to the end of the pole and opened, and the lid was in the bottom of the pond. What was I thinking??? How do people feed their fish when they're gone??
 

addy1

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My neighbor, pre-measured bags of food, one a day. Or they get nothing. They watch my pup, we pay them, now they include the fish.

I was going to get a auto feeder, but after seeing the squirrels eat the bird food, the racoons climbing around figured it would never last.
 

j.w

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I have only goldfish and they don't need feeding really. I went for several yrs in not feeding them at all. They ate whatever they could catch in the pond, bugs, worms, flies, anything that moves, and some plants like duck weed, algae, roots of plants etc.
Now I feed them once a day cuz I like to see them come up to me. Koi I think are different and they need feeding. Check on the internet and maybe somebody has come up w/ a fool proof way to set up that feeder so they can't get at it. Might have to use climb proof poles that they can't knock down and hang it from a wire from pole to pole across the pond somehow. Will need a control of some sort to reel it back to you from the middle of the wire like a pulley set up of some sort.
 
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Sorry to hear that not only did you worry about your fish being fed, but the crafty devil destroyed or tore apart your feeder! I have 2 large aquariums in the house, 2 house cats, outside cats and dogs, besides the pond, so it will be a matter of having more things for the neighbor girl to feed for her pay. :) And, for the aquarium fish, I bought the 7 day planner things for pills. I just measured what I wanted her to feed each day and she would open the container and pour it in. Voila! But, as others have said, pond fish can easily go for a week with no food. They have all the algae in the pond and maybe some leftover food on the bottom to feed on. I feel like I feed because I want to see the fish, it's for my enjoyment, and I'm sure the fish appreciate it, but they don't necessarily NEED it. Unless, of course, your pond is algae free, which mine is NOT! All my goldfish eat algae, they never come up to eat. Partly because my tiny koi food is larger than their mouths, but also because they are scavengers, just like the koi.
 

addy1

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lol my honey was worried the fish would get hungry..............so I asked her to feed them

My arizona fish never got fed, I worked so many hours was never home.
 

JoaniePA

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From now on I will not worry about the weekends, and will have someone come by once or twice when on vacation. They are shubunkin, which I believe are just fancy goldfish, so I will be less concerned and let them graze.
 

addy1

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From now on I will not worry about the weekends, and will have someone come by once or twice when on vacation. They are shubunkin, which I believe are just fancy goldfish, so I will be less concerned and let them graze.


I have shubunkins and goldies in my arizona pond, they grew big and healthy on almost no added food. Yours will be fine.

When I go down to throw these guys some food, they are always grazing on the sides. Some don't even come up for the pellets.


All about shubunkins per one site: lol I have a bunch of the blue colored shubies! according to this site they are sought after ...........

The Shubunkin Goldfish has become a very popular pond fish since it is one of the toughest goldfish types. The Shubunkin Goldfish sports a slender body just like the Common Goldfish, but distinguishes itself by having red, brown, orange and yellow colours combined with black spots – the so called “calico colours”. These colours are found on the main body as well as on the fins and are displayed on a violet or silvery-blue background. The blue coloration, which is very much sought after, will depend on the amount of melanin in the sub-epidermal layers. The scales on a Shubunkin Goldfish are transparent. The most valued coloration can be found in those Shubunkin Goldfishes that lack certain genes from the metallic common goldfish.

The Shubunkin Goldfish is usually kept in ponds, but you can keep a Shubunkin Goldfish in an aquarium as well as long as you can provide it with enough space. The Shubunkin Goldfish can grow very large and an adult Shubunkin Goldfish will need at least 30-40 gallons of water, while a juvenile requires around 15 gallons. The aquarium or pond should be decorated and provide the Shubunkin Goldfish with heavily planted places as well as open areas for swimming. Regardless of whether you keep your Shubunkin Goldfish in an aquarium or a pond, it is unadvisable to keep it together with slower swimming fish such as Telescope Goldfish or Bubble Eye Goldfish. The slower fishes might starve since the Shubunkin Goldfish will eat all the food before they have a chance to. A Koi is a much more suitable companion for a Shubunkin Goldfish.

The Shubunkin Goldfish is a happy eater and will readily accept most sources of food. You can feed your Shubunkin Goldfish pellets or flakes, as long as they are vegetable based. The Shubunkin Goldfish needs vegetables to do well. The recommended amount of food will depend on the temperature of the water, and it will therefore be necessary to adjust the amount of food according to season.

The Shubunkin Goldfish was developed in Japan during in the early years of the 20th century. Today, there are three different types of Shubunkin Goldfish - Japanese/American Shubunkin Goldfish, London Shubunkin Goldfish and Bristol Shubunkin Goldfish. They share the same colouration but have different tail configurations. The Japanese/American Shubunkin Goldfish is the original variant and has a deeply forked caudal fin. The fin is equipped with long narrow lobes that end in a point. The caudal fin should be at least as long as the body of the fish. The London Shubunkin Goldfish has a much shorter caudal fin; the fin length should ideally stay at around 25 percent of the body length. The caudal fin should be well rounded with just a moderate forking. The Bristol Shubunkin Goldfish separates itself from the two other types of Shubunkin Goldfish by having much longer finnage and a very rounded caudal fin, especially in the two wide lobes. When the Bristol Shubunkin Goldfish grow old, the wide lobes can collapse.
 

HARO

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I came across an ad on Kijiji yesterday ( our version of Craigslist ) where someone in Mexico is selling very rare fish. Seems he crossed an angelfish with a calico goldfish! I don't know how to post the ad, but you can Google "Kijiji Toronto", then type "goldfish" into the search window. Any suckers out there? John
 

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