Suggestions for deterring a raccoon's fishing habit

[natbla]

Well I stumbled onto my predator finally.

I first thought it was a bird that had taken my two new koi and 2 goldfish. Then I caught my largest bullfrog chasing the small fish and thought it was him (I transplanted him to a new home). But I lost 2 more fish before going out of town last week. So I know the true criminal had not been caught. I figured it was a birds so I was going to go out today and get a net for the pond. However, last night at 12:45 I let the dog out, and as I turn on the light, a racoon scurried away from the rock ledge that is the back of the pond. So I finally have found my fishing fiend!

Has anyone been successful at running raccoon off from their pond?

Most of my fish stay down, but the new koi were from a pet store so they were up on the top layer regularly, and the 4 goldfish taken were taken when the fish were in baby making mode and were breaking the surface regularly and chasing along the edges.

Hopefully, someone can make a suggesting that I can used to deter the raccoon.

On an unrelated note, I'm regularly testing water now, and the only problem is that my water is very hard in the 300's range most day. All other perimeters are fine. Do I need to fin a way to soften the water , or is that level fine for koi and goldfish?

 

[addy1]

Per the net:

The amount of dissolved mineral salts , namely calcium and magnesium, will determine the water's hardness. Water with high concentrations of salts is referred to as hard, while low levels would be indicative of soft water. Hardness is measured with the degrees of hardness scale (dH), which ranges from 0 to over 30 degrees, with 4 to 8 degrees reflecting soft water and 18 to 30 degrees reflecting hard water. This can also be expressed in parts per million- soft water is less than 75ppm and hard water is within 150ppm to 300ppm.
Goldfish prefer water hardness between 3 and 14 degrees of hardness. Even though goldfish can survive in water with a higher hardness, commercial kits are available at pet stores that will allow you to alter the water hardness, so there is no need to gamble with the health of your pet fish.

I have raccoons, but they tend to just drink from my pond, the water is deep, they would need to swim to catch a fish. Mine don't tend to hang around the sides of the pond.
When I feed them I always toss the food into the center, to keep the center of the pond their happy place.

 

[Waterbug]

Hopefully, someone can make a suggesting that I can used to deter the raccoon.

If a raccoon, or really any animal, fines a food source there isn't really anything you can do to stop them short of an actual barrier. Like complete enclosure (top too). For example an electric fence may deter them for a few minutes, but they'll probably find a way. Nets, don't seem to be a big problem for raccoons and even birds unless done really well, like fastened to the ground so they can't get under. There's a bunch of YouTube videos of animals going through different defenses, but here's one that shows how persistent they can be.

For raccoons I've only had problems with them tipping over pots, pulling pumps out by the hose and those were fixed by removing the temptation. I did have a 2' deep pond that the raccoons would get into, swimming, but generally were successful in finding a meal and didn't seem to try again. They may have gotten a fantail once, but I'm unsure. So to me the best defense is depth. Raccoons seem to have to pin fish to the bottom or kind of trap them in their arms which I think would be hard while swimming. Although from the video, they'll do whatever they can.

I don't really think places for fish to hide really helps much. When a raccoon knocks over a pot or stirs the water the fish are going to come to the raccoon looking for food in the stirred water. At least that's what the fish do when I stir the water.

On an unrelated note, I'm regularly testing water now, and the only problem is that my water is very hard in the 300's range most day. All other perimeters are fine. Do I need to fin a way to soften the water , or is that level fine for koi and goldfish?

They're fine. In one test a Koi pond was taken up to 5,000 ppm KH and the fish were fine. And by just the math KH could be as high as 10,000 ppm in theory before there would be problems. Trying to lower KH and GH without really knowing too much can and does kill fish.

Optimal conditions is one thing, reality another.

 

[adavisus]

You might submerge black trash bag type plastic in shallow areas, it is more or less invisible when submerged.

It will tangle up the raccoon in the dark and provide cover for fish from prying eyes and fingers

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[j.w]

I have a short wire fence around mine and pretty good sized rocks around the edge of pond and deep sides. Never had any problems w/ raccoon and my fish. Have had problems w/ them throwing all my mulch off my garden beds looking for grubs! Urine seems to deter them from that...........yes I know gross but it's just poured around the edges and it seems to work. Once I had a problem w/ some Taro I had in big pots on the deck w/ raccoons getting in and tearing the plants up. Hubby made me some short boards w/ little spikes sticking up to lay around the pots on the deck floor. Raccoons no likey that plan and stayed away from the pokey things for good! If you lay some pricker stems around the pond they won't like that either.

 

[j.w]

Waterbug I thought that was cute about the raccoon! They should have threw him one to begin with,lol!

 

[natbla]

That is a great clip. I won't stress the hard water at this point as long as things stay consistent. I did a ten percentish water change today as part of cleaning out the settling tank for the first time and also getting the gunk out of the biological filter from when I was bypassing the settling tank for the first 6 or 7 days..

Also, I picked up some new koi from Koi Valley farm (home-based business outside Lucas OH). The difference in behavior from pond raised outdoor koi as compared to the tank raised indoor koi I got at Petlant was amazing. These new guys (all under 3") went straight to the lower levels of the pond and have intermingled with the goldfish. They clearly get that cruising at the top isn't necessarily safe. I also went with color combos that where nie to look at but not as contrasting with the pond.

 

[addy1]

lol about the raccoon.

Natbla, those carpet tack strips work great, just don't forget about them and step on them yourself. I had them on top of our block wall to stop the coyotes from walking on the wall, in arizona. Put some around your pond, where you think the raccoons where fishin from. To keep them pointed up I nailed the tack strips to some pieces of wood.

 

[sissy]

I love that clip shows how persistent a raccoon can be .Good gosh you go fishing and you get fish and a coon at the same time ,now thats original .lmao

 

[Oldhead]

I guess they didn't realize that a raccoon out during the day is more than likely rabid.