ChrisGW wrote:
Well, We have had a 2500 gallon pond for about 10 years now and never had a
problem with losing fish to animals until now. Our indoor/outdoor cat
died about
three weeks ago.

Sorry to hear about your cat :-(

We went away last week and when we got home this sunday
my wife
went out to feed the fish. There were none! We had six large Koi and
about 20 or
more gold fish. We did count 5 small gold fish yesterday morning (under two
inches) Have not seen them since.

We suspect musk rat or raccoons, but there were no signs of either. We
do have
both in the area. We do not suspect "foul" play because we have not seen
any
fish eating birds since we have been home.

My best guess is that your cat was detering predators, which would make
me think of birds or possibly another cat. Although you haven't seen any
fish eating birds since your return from holiday it doesn't mean that
they can be ruled out - sounds like most of the "disappearances"
happened while you were away. You also can't rule out that someone might
have netted them out while the house was empty......sad, but more common
than you might think - but as I wouldn't think the cat would have
deterred such people then this is probably lower down on the scale of
likeliness.

Don't know much about musk rats or raccoons as we don't get them in the
UK but it could be a possibility - minks might be another but I don't
think that they are the cleanest of killers from what I've heard so I
would have guessed if it was minks then you might have found some
evidence....


We have been talking of late of going to a smaller pond for maintenance
reasons.
(we are not getting any younger). So I think this is a good time to do
so. The
liner is 10 years old, so I have gotten my moneys worth out of it and a new
design would be a nice change. May even go for a more formal pond. We
shall see.

When you design the new pond I would suggest some safeguards against
predators - or you could just get another cat....


Chris



Gill