I had 8 goldfish and 3 plants

[Kate timber]

now I have 1 goldfish and 2 plants. I also had a full bag of goldfish food.....now I have none.
Who ate my fishies and plant and food?

 

[Kate timber]

And how do I stop this from reoccurring?

 

[peter hillman]

Raccoon's like to eat that kind of stuff. Are they in your area?

 

[Kate timber]

Yes they are; I've yet to see one but I know they are around. Any solution?

 

[peter hillman]

Keep the food put away, and give the fish a place to hide. My parents were plagued by coons, father put up a small electric fence around their pond. He/I and every one else got shocked by that thing. I also lost some long time fish friends to raccoon's, now I have a 'fish house' a small building of rocks so fish may have a chance. No guarantees on this but stay wary of them.

 

[Kate timber]

Great! I'll try that; thanks so much

 

[mgmine]

You can get a large trap and take them out that way. If there is one then you can bet there are a lot more.

 

[tbendl]

Any pictures of the pond? If you have an area that allows them easy access to get into the water, I would agree, especially given that the food disappeared as well.

 

[HARO]

What kind of plants? I've had a problem with coons and water hyacinths in the past. They didn't eat them, but the plants looked like they had been put through a blender. Sorta the coon version of bubble wrap! Ours also like to bite the heads off any goldfish they can catch, and leave the rest beside the water. And beware of local laws if you trap them, around here you can't move them more than one mile or something like that. Usually the coon is back before you are!
John

 

[CometKeith]

How deep is your pond? If it is 2 ft or less the fish can't escape preditors like raccoons. I have an area in my pond that is 4 ft deep and this gives my fish a place to stay safe from preditors.

 

[peter hillman]

How deep is your pond? If it is 2 ft or less the fish can't escape preditors like raccoons. I have an area in my pond that is 4 ft deep and this gives my fish a place to stay safe from preditors.

Yeah you need that depth, the time I lost mine was because I had my pond 1/2 full to do some filter work, left it that way overnight and woke to a slaughter in the morning. That was probably close to ten years ago and I still feel bad for letting those fish die that way I'd had them for seven years. They left the heads lying about for me to see.