We have a question that I hope can be answered. We have a large fish pond that has been established for a number of years. Over the last few days we have found a number of headless fish floating in the pond. The pond is stocked with koi, golden rud and goldfish and it appears to be the smaller fish (approx. 2-3" long) that are being killed. We cannot understand why the whole fish isn't being eaten....we have so far lost 15 fish. We have a walled garden so it would be difficult for preditors i.e turtles etc to get into the garden. Any ideas?
Pond Masacre
- Thread starter fatgran
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Where is the midlands, do you have otters? They have been known to get into ponds and just kill the fish.
We live in the UK, and although there are otters in this country there are none in this area as far as we know. We have a walled garden and I don't think predators would be able to access the garden or pond. Although we have had herons in the past I think they would have taken a whole fish and not just the head....it certainly is a mystery.
fishin4cars
True friends just call me Larkin
Head loss=predator
first thing I thought was turtle, otter or mink. I would look at getting a trail camera and place it near the pond to see if you can spot something getting in and out when your not there.
first thing I thought was turtle, otter or mink. I would look at getting a trail camera and place it near the pond to see if you can spot something getting in and out when your not there.
stroppy
stroppy
i think you will find an otter can easily climb a wall ... but if you say there are none in your area, has to be something else could you try putting sand around parts of the pond to see if you see any foot prints ?.. a bird i think would eat all of the fish, sorry cant be more help
Herons have a muddle of eating habits.
Can be snooty taking only head or tail off a kill...
Your sushi bar must be such good pickings they can hardly stuff any more in their lavishly stuffed fish bag, it must be all they can do to waddle back off the ground and go airborne
Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/
Can be snooty taking only head or tail off a kill...
Your sushi bar must be such good pickings they can hardly stuff any more in their lavishly stuffed fish bag, it must be all they can do to waddle back off the ground and go airborne
Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/
my local garden centre had a problem with otters, and the otter took the full fish not just the head, it took the fish away from the pond to eat it somewhere else hidden/sheltered, so i dont think it is otters, herons eat there food whole, the eating of just heads is characteristic of turtles but we dont have them wild in uk, makes me think possibly some bird, crow or magpie etc, desperate for food, time of year young to feed, they may not be biting their heads off on purpose but just where they are grabbing the fish and as the fish struggles the bird is biting harder and thus decapitating the fish leaving the body to fall back into the pond and the bird fly's away with the head, just a thaught have you examined the wounds on the body with a magnifying glass ?
stroppy
stroppy
just an idea as its only the small ones your loosing could they be getting stuck in a pump ? or something like that ... or perhaps rats ... or even the bigger fish are killing them ..
Many thanks to all who have replied to my question. We do encourage birds into the garden by putting food out. We are so pleased with the variety of birds that find our 'little outdoor restaurant' to their liking; unfortunately some Magpies have joined the party and they may well be helping themselves in the 'sushi bar'....we will certainly be keeping a watch on them in the future. We have only lost one fish today making about 20 in total.