Mass murder last night :-(

[star1270]

(Just posted introduction in proper area)

Hello everyone!

Sad day for me. I have had a 2 barrel pond setup with 9 fish for a couple of years. No issues, no hints of unwanted wildlife having any interest this entire time, that is until last night. A raccoon must have figured out somehow that I had a swimming buffet for him/her. It must have been attracted to the water sound. Came home from work yesterday and found the destruction. 4 1/2 eaten and dead fish on the ground and all the rest gone, upper barrel pond setup all messed up. I could tell something was digging around in it, filter and pond plants were all askew. Sad that everything was OK for so long that I got complacent on protecting my fishies. Live and learn. When I re-set & re-stock, I will cover them with a wire fence material secured where the raccoons can't get into it. I know they are smart buggers and can figure out how to just take off a lid, so I will be securing it with a hinge side and a padlock or a safety carribeaner on the other. That should hopefully keep them out of my little pond.

So now the question I have is, how does everyone here keep unwanted wildlife out of their in-ground pond. I hope to be constructing a 5K g pond within the next year and need to plan critter control.

We have a fully fenced (6ft) yard, no holes dug under, so they must have scaled the fence. We were thinking of a electrical 2 wire system on top of the fence, anyone have any experience with those?

Thanks in advance for any advice given.

-Star1270

 

[Event Horizon]

I have had success with the Yard Guard. You set the frequency to the animal you want to deter. The down side is depending on the frequency you set it at it may bother your cats or dogs. It can also be bothersome for kids as well. My daughter would be able to hear it clear as a bell, but I could hear nothing. I set mine on a timer (on motion detection mode) so it can only be triggered late night when nobody is in the yard, but the critters.

http://www.amazon.ca/Bird-X-YG-Ultrasonic-Animal-Repeller/dp/B000RUDBMC

 

[addy1]

My pond is deep except for the walk out area, no raccoon issues. They can't reach the fish in the deep area from what I read they can't fish while swimming. I do see their prints in the one shallow area, most likely drinking. My biggest issue is the heron. For the gbh I cover the pond with a net about 4-5 feet over the pond.

 

[MarcusNZ]

Sorry for your loss.

Are Raccoon's protected?
If not, my suggestion is something with 4 legs, vocal, big teeth, and "an interest" for anything non-human that wonders onto the yard. Hopefully the bark should be enough to deter would be predators.

I have two & I suspect even two legged burglars would (or should) think twice before sneaking about day or night.

 

[Big Lou]

So very sorry.

 

[j.w]

That's awful and its so sad. We have raccoons here but they don't go into my pond, not yet anyways. I've had a pond for over 10yrs. My pond has straight sides down to the plant ledges which are down about 18" so no shallow walk in areas for them to get into the pond. They'd have to jump in and swim for the fish and not sure if they do that. Hope you get some ideas on how to stop them from doing this again. Electricity and or wire fence might be what you need. I'd do the straight side of your next pond tho and deep so the fish can head to safety. Caves made from curved black pvc pipes or rock formed caves are nice for the fish to run to also.

 

[Catfishnut]

Star,

I am deeply sorry that you lost your fish. That is a sad note.

Critters which eat fish are just part of nature and sometimes we have to remember that, ugly as it sounds. If you suspect that it was racoons (as I do) I would be tempted to install a HV electric fence zapper (like for cattle).
You can buy AC or battery powered units or even solar powered ones (my choice) and run the electric fence wires around your pond to keep them out. You can place the wires low to the ground, but remember that the wires cannot touch vegetation. This would be much better than closing the top of the pond/s in with wire mesh. That kinda defeats the purpose of having a beautiful and ornamental outdoor pond. This will also keep the dogs and cats out, too, as well as any stray cattle. (I just threw that in as a bonus). An electric fencer for cattle would be my first line of defense. It is easy, not too expensive and it will certainly work to most extents, without detracting from your pond's aesthetics. Just don't touch it while you are working around your pond! You can set the wires around your perimeter fence, too if you you desire, but remember, racoons are VERY smart and they will find a way in through some loophole or missed coverage area - and they can climb very well and dig, too!

Check out what they have at a TSC or Bomgaars or other farm supply store.

I remember my brother had an experience with a racoon once (at least). His boys caught a 10-12 lb carp and left it in a stock tank overnight. Late that night, they heard a noise and went outside to investigate. They spotted a racoon 25-30 feet up in a cottonwood tree - eating that carp! He managed to catch the fish out of the tank and lug that big fish all the way up the tree to his favorite dining area. That should give you an idea of how strong and persistent they can be.

Catfishnut

 

[kougs]

Mine too. straight sides and 4 feet deep. like Catfishnut states, you could also install an electric fence that is on a timer, on for evening time and off when you are around.

so sorry for your loss

 

[CountryEscape]

If you have a 6' perimeter fence, an electric wire on the top would keep out any critters that scaled the fence, as long as you have it go over any gates and all the way to the house. But, remember, if they get on the house, they will get into your yard. They are very smart, as everyone has attested, and once they figure out you have an easy menu for them, they will be back in time. I would hate to have an electric fence around my pond, though. I have horses, have electric wire keeping them in, but I hate it when I touch it. And, thinking of small children that may touch it by accident, or dogs for that matter .... I'm all for getting a 4 legged animal that will keep out your unwanted guests. Raccoons normally will not go anywhere near where dogs live. Only drawback is if you don't like dogs, can't have dogs, or just don't want the added mess of a dog.
Whatever you decide, good luck! I'm sure you will figure out a way to keep your ponds safe. As far as what I have, my 2 ponds have straight up and down sides, with shelves that are minimum of 14" straight down to them. Raccoons won't be able to fish in my pond. BUT, that won't keep the heron out, and they can be worse as far as killing machines. They don't make as much of a mess as the raccoons, though, and doubt they would have taken fish they didn't intend to eat. Shame on that raccoon, wasting like that. The herons come in from above, and can stretch down farther than the 14" my sides are, so my two ponds are minimum of 36" deep, and the koi pond goes down to closer to 48" deep. I'm hoping that's deep enough. Oh, and I have 2 dogs outside that have free range of my yard and property.

 

[fishin4cars]

So sorry to hear about your loss. hopefully some are hiding and will come back out in a day or so. I had a heron attack Christmes 202011 and thought it wiped me out. About a week later 8 of my 30 koi appeared, a month later a owl got two of them and four replacements. IMO there are two ways to protect ponds from predators, minimum 3' deep and straight down sides and or a net. Pretty much every other thing is just added help. I recently saw that I wasn't even safe with a 5 ft deep pond with straight down sides. A King fisher decided a bright yellow yamabuki looked good enough to eat and dive bombed the pond! I was sitting in the hammock chair and freaked! Needless to say it's now netted as well. So far the raccoons and the otters have stayed near the river and away from the house, I just can't seem to keep birds away. If it wasn't enough to be attacked by herons, egrets, owls, hawks, and commorants. Now I have king fishers to deal with. Wonder what other kinds of birds I have to deal worry about.
If you have a harbor freight check out there driveway alarms. They are motion detected and will let you know if anything iis walking around the pond at night. Fences help and if they still don't stay away there is always the option of using live traps and relocating. Some Humane societies or shelters will loan them if you ask. Good luck and again sorry to hear of your loss. But don't give up, Even the Japanese have to deal with predators too.

 

[CountryEscape]

Sometimes I hate living on this wide open flat area, no woods or even stands of trees for a mile in every direction, and wind is ferocious, nothing to stop it. Then I think of the predators that would come along with the woods. I did actually have a raccoon the dogs had bayed on a pipe covering electric wires on my house right before I started my build! Never saw it since. Waited until he was down and had a good head start before I let my dogs outside. Had Golden Retrievers at the time, not vicious dogs at all, but they smelled and ran the direction the raccoon went. I used to see a skunk running in the field behind my house, he/she was on the same path probably every night, heading to a drainage ditch. Never had a problem with it either. I always have cat and dog food available outside, so they are probably more likely to go to that if they are desperate, no need to work for the food. And, since I have the farm pond, I'm hoping that the herons will stay over there and fish, much more sheltered by the cattails, and the koi and goldfish ponds are literally right off of my back deck. However, I've heard horror stories already of birds that have wiped out ponds in people's back yards, so they are not shy! Raccoons pretty much will tear anything up (net, short fence, etc.) unless it's electrified, though. Netting sounds like it is the only deterrent for birds, though. Good luck and as Larkin said, don't give up!

 

[mariobrothersleeve]

I use hard heads around the pond to bottom out on their bellys. I also broadcast feed. Ive noticed coons will splash the water and the fish come to the surface because they think its food. Sorry for your loss. :-(

 

[Mucky_Waters]

I've noticed it's small swallow ponds that are a favorite for raccoons to get in and clean all the fish out of, the fish have nowhere to hide and no way to get away from them.
Our last pond had raccoons visit it, but the pond was deep enough the fish could stay away from the raccoon who wouldn't go in the deeper water, so besides making a bit of a mess with the plants they weren't able to get any fish. I did put up a motion light, and a Scarecrow sprinkler to help deter them from coming back. The fish were hard to get, and a bright light would come on when ever they got near the pond,l and a sprinkler would make noise and start spraying water everywhere. It must have worked because I never lost a fish to raccoon, and we had previously lost 30+ chickens to raccoons, so I know there was plenty of them around.
Building a big deep pond is your first defense, so it's good you are planning a 5k gal pond, just keep raccoons in mind when designing it.

The next thing you'll have to worry about is herons. For them you'll want a deep pond too, and try to keep your pond hidden (trees, fences), keep your open water surface area small so they don't notice the pond in the first place, lots of lilies and plants can help with that, and also help fish stay hidden, and keep your fish stocks low (lots of fish crowded into a small body of water are irresistible to herons), and not too much shelf area for the herons to walk on, so the can't easily get at the fish if all else fails. Basically it comes down to three steps, first try to prevent the heron from spotting the pond water in the first place, second; if the heron spots the pond try and keep the fish hidden so he isn't compelled to stop and check it out closer, and last resort; try and make the fish hard to catch so it isn't worth returning too. After that you'll have to resort to nets and dogs and all sorts of other stuff that detract from the beauty of the pond IMHO.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Motion detectors have been mentioned before, but the predators tend to learn after awhile that a spotlight or loud radio isn't going to hurt them, so they come back. Personally, I want to start a collection of Halloween motion detectors... between various flashing lights, creepy sounds, and screams, I think it would really help deter them when there's a different effect coming from every side. We have a small raccoon in our neighborhood that got a couple of my smaller shubunkins last Fall. He's been dormant all Winter, but I imagine he'll be coming back again now that the warm weather is upon us.

 

[j.w]

Gosh I hope my radio keeps working to keep the heron away. I have it up pretty loud. Never used the water scarecrows but my friend up the road does and when she has them on they work but you need so many of them if you have a big pond like she does and they don't work in freezing weather. She finally moved her dogs dog house out by the area where the heron were coming the most and that seems to work pretty good. The dog chases the bird away each time it comes near. My one cat is not afraid and will chase them also but haven't had any around in a year or more now. If we were to go away on vacation for awhile I would cover it w/a net. Always on the look out tho!