New Pond & Fish are gone!

[catramsey2]

I put in a 2x2x6 cattle trough and added three plants and a water fall. I also added four small gold fish. The fish dissapeared the next day.

What ate my fish?

 

[addy1]

Where do you live? do you have raccoons, herons, snakes? that is pretty shallow if your measurements are in inches, a lot of critters would be able to snag the fish.

 

[catramsey2]

the pond 2 feet deep X 2 feet wide x 6 feet long. I live in Texas and I don't have raccoons, don't know about snakes and don't know about the heron. the pond is a cattle trough and is above ground. Just can't believe my fish are gone so quick.

 

[sask pond guy]

maybe they grew legs lol and went to a different pond

 

[catramsey2]

Ha Ha Ha. Funny. Maybe my neighbors were really hungry!

 

[taherrmann4]

Catramsey that is quick to loose 4 in one night. Do you live near any natural ponds, lakes or rivers? If so it could be a mink, otter, muskrat or a nutria, they will all feed on fish and like water. Did you see any foot prints near the trough, if not then it might be a bird. If you were to get some more fish you could always set up one of those motion cameras to see what it might be, or you could cover it with a net.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_k0700_0517.pdf

 

[HARO]

Do you have kingfishers in your area? They usually live in pairs and would make a meal of your fish in no time! John

 

[addy1]

put some sand around your trough, nicely raked and see what prints get left. Or make the ground muddy to see if you can grab some prints.

 

[catramsey2]

I do live near two large water retaining ponds. I thought about the camera idea. I am so sad about my fish. I may just do without fish, if I have to fight to keep them. I am loving my pond though. I really was excited about the fish.

 

[addy1]

If you can figure out what got them then, you can figure out a way to fight the critter. May be simple .

 

[catramsey2]

Thanks for the suggestion. I would love to have fish.

 

[SE18]

might want to check for kids. don't tell anyone this but a buddy of mine and me were little, we went fishing for trout and couldn't catch a thing so we snuck across the street to the hatchery and caught a fair number.

Now a kid with a net... just sayin

 

[catramsey2]

I thought about that too. But I don't think any kids knew I had a pond much less any fish.

 

[j.w]

Let us know what you find out and which way you choose to get clues...........sand, mud, camera. Then we can help better w/ the results. I'm thinking it was a bird that saw them swimming around from the sky and sometimes you may think you have no raccoons or other critters but they only come at night when you are sawing z's.

 

[taherrmann4]

You said that you had 3 plants, are they providing enough cover for your fish to hide from a bird?