Has anyone else had any fish stolen from their garden pond? My father in law has had 2 die for no apparent reason, 3 have dissapeared and one 10lb koi was found on the lawn with one side of it chewed away and scales spread around the garden. he lives in the south of sheffield close to Eccelsall Woods.
He thinks it could be foxes, could they get under 2 nets then grab a fish in the middle of the night?
any info would be helpful or how to prevent it. He has lost over £1000 worth so far.

Hiya Fazz2311,
sorry to hear of the stolen and mutilated Koi, it must be terrible waking up to see the pond in the morning. It certainly could be and most probably is foxes, they are as sly as the saying goes. this is what might have killed the fish actually in the pond, through fright. I think one way to help stop another attack is to install a security light- the type with a movement detector incorporated, so that anything going near the pond is going to be startled by the light coming on. good luck and I hope you have no more losses
deecee

You can also buy a small sensor that sprays jets of water at movement. Great for keeping unwanted foxes/cats out of your garden.

a customer of mine lives on ridgeway road she looked out of her window early one morning to see a large grey heron flying off with one of her fish,as you have a net over your pond this is probably not the culprit here but i just thought i'd mention it.

sorry to hear about the loss of your father in laws fish i had the sme thing happen to me last year my biggest koi found on garden with big hole in its side . ive now fenced my garden off and put light senser in my garden has two washing post on it and i have strung some washing line between the posts in a zig-zag fashion so the herron can not land the need a lot of space to land they are a big bird and can not land verry well in a confined space i lost 3 of my best fish last year to herrons also lost 3 stergeon but they are very tame and you can pick them out of the pond with your hands ive also got cctv on pond too does not cost the earth to install now either my next project is to build a gazebo next year when it warms up a bit best regards steve>>

Could also be a mink that's stolen the fish. A year or two ago my mum lost the entire stock to them. The pond was pretty heron proof (used to get them fighting on the lawn for the fishing rights!) so definately wasn't one of them.

Originally posted by tas1
Could also be a mink that's stolen the fish. A year or two ago my mum lost the entire stock to them. The pond was pretty heron proof (used to get them fighting on the lawn for the fishing rights!) so definately wasn't one of them.

mink:o i didn't know they lived here:confused:

Caught on CCTV..... :o
http://www.moviecitynews.com/Notepad/images/2004/gollum_bigfish_ps1.3.jpg

Sorry about the fish I'd be pretty miffed and not just because of the cost

My daughters pond was cleared of 30 fish by a heron, she saw it land early morning, when she went out it flew off, but it must have landed earlier, as all she had left were 3 small goldfish and loads of fish scales around the edge of the pond.
Just the week before she'd had a tree pruned because it was blocking the light in the garden, seems it wasn't the only thing it was blocking.

my next project is to build a gazebo next year when it warms up a bit best regards steve>>

Your bit about the gazebo i be warey of doing this too. My step dad is into all this Koi fish, his pond his pride and joy. Has a very large pond with over 18 koi, he too has the water sprinklers, cctv now, and every part of his garden is fenced of with very high gates locked like fork knocks net over the pond now.

He too onced had a gazebo a wooden japanese style to go over his pond that looked very nice. He noticed it attracted more of these herron and stealing his fish and some how got into the net. Now since he took the gazebo down and just put a net over it he not seen any since last year and no fish taken.

mink:o i didn't know they lived here:confused:

My OH works by the Don and quite often sees them on the banking or in the river.
If you remember a few years ago, the Animal Rights idiots thought it would be ok to release all the mink from a mink farm, and they have been causing havoc ever since (both the mink and the AR people!!!)

I saw a fox walking up my road a few week ago it was early hours in the morning and it had a biggggggggg koi in its mouth it took it onto the crags where i live on frechville just of birley moor road , so yes foxes are deffo out for koi .

my mate has an electric fence (like what farmers use running off a car type battery) surrounding his pond and he has no hassle from cats/foxes he also has a plastic heron on display as he says if an heron sees another heron at a pond/lake they wont go near
they both seem to work as he hasnt lost any fish to predators for years now

herons are usually the culprit, may sound silly but a large plastic heron standing at teh side of the pond may do the trick to put it off, worked for us.

a heron lands away from the pond and stalks it prey it will bob down low behind bushs and tall grass so the fish will not see it this ive learnt from watching them while ive been fishing they will not go over a small fence if its near the edge of the pond + if its a raised pond yu will not have to worry if your pond is level with the ground then i would build a wooden frame and put solid wire mesh something like the use on avairys ive had to do this to stop any herons haveing my fish , you can all so put a few strands of wire around yer ponds beacause they dnt like anything touching there legs wen they are stalking + i have seen 6 herons on the bank at 1 time so they will hunt if there are others around , hope this helps

Friends of ours had herons taking their fish and they finished up buying a model of an eagle owl probably about 2 feet tall and put this by the side of their pond. They never had a heron near the pond again.

This looks fun though

http://www.amazon.com/Aquascape-Predator-Control-Floating-Alligator/dp/B0016D8TO4

Just noticed this old thread. Thanks for all the advice given. Unfortunately, all the fish disappeared one by one. My father in law now has a water feature!!

My OH works by the Don and quite often sees them on the banking or in the river.
If you remember a few years ago, the Animal Rights idiots thought it would be ok to release all the mink from a mink farm, and they have been causing havoc ever since (both the mink and the AR people!!!)

You never see the Animal Libbers and people like the Environment Agency petioning for the reintroduction of Wolves, Bear and Bison back into Britains woodland do you? Only creatures that are "soft and cuddly" :rolleyes: