Beheaded goldfish?!

[Rbritt]

I came home yesterday to find one of my larger original comets laying in the bottom of the pond, almost beheaded. Poor thing. :claphands: I have a net on the pond to keep the leaves out and can only imagine a heron grabbed her and couldn't get her out of the pond - does that sound right or is there something else that could've done this to her? The other fish are completely spooked so I can't get an accurate count to see if everyone else is still present and accounted for. I'm worried enough about them going into winter (my first with the fish in the pond) and would hate to see them not even make it that far.
Beth

 

[j.w]

Yikes that sounds horrible! Sounds like something tried to grab it and could only get the head like you said. Guess you might have to get a net w/ smaller holes and rig the net so it's up off the water quite a bit so the bird can't reach the fish even if he does get his beak through. Some people rig up fish line above and across the pond so they can't fly in also. Heron don't like stuff touching their legs much either so fish line around the perimeter might help also. I have a radio out on our front porch right by the pond set to blast on at dawn and go off at night and since I did that the heron don't come around............guess they don't like loud mouthed talk radio hosts :claphands:

 

[RSFish1]

Probably right about the Heron. Here's another net suggestion. The netting is great except for when things like this happens to you. I always prop my netting up, off the water by a minimum of 8-12". This keeps the net far enough off the water that it would take a pretty long beak to spear in to the water.
Consider putting in a "safe house" for the fish to hide in when they sense danger.
Wild critters are a hard part of this hobby to fight against. I lost a lot of very nice fish last year to a opossum. He would eat the heads and leave the bodies for me to find.
Good luck. There are lots of good ideas out there for discouraging Herons. I personally like temporary electric fences when needed. But I know they are not for everyone.

 

[rdk]

Cover the entire pond with chain linked fence with wire screen tied over it. Paint it black. End of problem. RDK

 

[Rbritt]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, the net's just above the pond so I think the darned bird was able to just reach right through it. Unfortunately I just cut back the plants along the border of the pond this weekend too so the heron could see them easily and came in to pick up a snack. Time to figure out a Plan B for the net and install a cave for the fish to hide in!

 

[DrCase]

Thanks everyone. Yeah, the net's just above the pond so I think the darned bird was able to just reach right through it. Unfortunately I just cut back the plants along the border of the pond this weekend too so the heron could see them easily and came in to pick up a snack. Time to figure out a Plan B for the net and install a cave for the fish to hide in!

A cave would be a more eye pleasing alternative

 

[Rbritt]

Very good point - I'll see what I have around to put in there for the fish to hide in asap. I just heard from my father in law that he came out yesterday and caught great blue heron at the pond and chased it off so at least I know what I'm dealing with. I can only hope he won't be back anytime soon since he wasn't able to actually get a meal. And the fact that we have 5 very large dogs but unfortunately they're not out during the day when we're not home - maybe Dad will let them out throughout the day for us for awhile.

 

[27goldfish]

I had a pump do that to a fish

 

[Rbritt]

So sorry to hear that 27goldfish - it was horrible! Well my net's been reinforced and stretched tighter/higher above the pond and I also got a heron decoy and a fish cave. The guy where I get my pond supplies said he'd had several people in over the past week or so trying to combat a heron attack so this one must be making the rounds. My poor fish are so spooked they haven't even come up to eat since the attack and any food I gave them just went right into the skimmer. Since the water temp is just above 50 (air temp is high 40s at night, 60s during the day), I've given up feeding them and am hoping at least it was at a good time and they'll do okay without feeding from here on out for the winter time. I think I may have lost a couple of this year's goldfish youngsters during the attack but it's hard to tell who's present or not besides the two larger koi and 5 larger goldfish. Everyone's mostly huddling in the cave at the moment but I hope they make it through the upcoming winter, recover from the stress, and get friendly again in the Spring.
Beth

 

[j.w]

Some say the statues work..........others say they don't. I've heard if you don't move them around the birds will just get used to them and land anyway and in Spring mating season they may even attract them. Let us know what happens using it as I've never tried one