WTF ate my fish?

[DurocShark]

Coyote or mountain lion.

They can hear water for miles...

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: neutralizer
"The Great Blue Heron feeds mainly on small fish less than half the length of its bill, or under 65 mm long."

Kois are HUGE way bigger than that. And not to mention they don't come down here until the winter according to the site and it's summer.

Koi only grow as large as their habitat will sustain, IIRC.

 

[hopeless879]

A big fish?

 

[guyver01]

sounds like the perfect time to set up a webcam, and post the link on ATOT.. perhaps we can catch the fish bandit?

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: neutralizer
"The Great Blue Heron feeds mainly on small fish less than half the length of its bill, or under 65 mm long."

Kois are HUGE way bigger than that. And not to mention they don't come down here until the winter according to the site and it's summer.

Koi only grow as large as their habitat will sustain, IIRC.

They start off small... Take years to get big. And the "only grow as large as their habitat will sustain" is mostly an urban legend.

As long as there is clean water and oxygen and food, they'll keep growing to their max size. Even if they can't swim anymore... I've seen it. That legend came from the fact that it's kinda difficult to keep the water clean when the fish is seriously too big for the tank/pond.

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: phantom309
Yeah, that does sound like a raccoon - rats love fish but can't catch them, ditto cats...unless they're really slow fish.

Tell that to the dead coy in my mom's pond from her cats

 

[BooGiMaN]

it sounds to me like the Chupacabra....fear the Chupacabra!

 

[codeyf]

'my excellent compatriot or Heron. It's summer here (been hotter here in WA than in CA recently). There is a big azz pond (maybe 100yds long, 50yds wide) in our business park. There are at least 2 Herons out there.

 

[IGBT]

My neighbors pond was cleaned out by a Snowy Egret.(big bird)..must have spotted the pond from high altitude.

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: neutralizer

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Fausto1
Sounds more like a raccoon to me.

Seriously, I've never seen a raccoon in SD.

Then again I AM posting on ATOT.

Trust me, they're out there. I've seen them in SD.

 

[OulOat]

For some interesting animal vs animal conflict, stick this in your pond and wait for that fish thief to come back.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Look for bones at the bottom, in my old aquarium one of o ur fish actually started eating the algae eaters. I saw it when I was like 10 years old and my parents didn't believe me until I showed it to them one day when I caught it when it started. It looked funny because it couldn't swallow it at once, it had a part of the fish sticking out and trying to escape while the other part was eaten. Another one of our algae eaters actually escaped but it acted like it just wanted to go in the corner and hide....

 

[Coolone]

*burp*



.........what?

 

[neutralizer]

Okay, I just got back from running a gel and I find this on the front page of ATOT. LOL, still alive.

Anyways, lemme clarify. I live in a quiet neighborhood in a place that used to be a desert around the Del Mar/Carmel Valley region. Any cat in my neighborhood would most likely get mauled by dogs. And the pond is very small, like maybe 50 square feet in area, not very deep, about knee deep in water. There are only two fishes, same kind, they don't eat each other because they are about the same size. They are already big.

Where do raccoons live anyways? I'm so if I'm ignorant but don't they live in trees? All the trees in my area are young trees. It's a pretty new neighborhood, about 4 years old. The only place where raccoons can crawl out of is the canyon, but that's still a mile away. Even if it did get in my yard, the front parts of the yard are gated with a door. The back part of the yard has metal grates facing my neighbor's yard. All my neighbors have dogs. I have a hard time believing the raccoon could get past those dogs.

 

[imported_Tomato]

Koi fish = $$$

 

[JawaJedi]

Originally posted by: IGBT
My neighbors pond was cleaned out by a Snowy Egret.(big bird)..must have spotted the pond from high altitude.

Yeah, my aunt's koi were cleaned out by a Great Blue Heron. Her pond was fairly small so it was really weird seeing the bird swoop down because it looked huge. It just landed on the side of the pond, stared a bit and took a koi and flew off. There's only one koi left now. 10 miles inland isn't too far for the Heron to go. THey'll go anywhere where there's water. You probably have a park with a lake nearby?

 

[neutralizer]

Originally posted by: JawaJedi

Originally posted by: IGBT
My neighbors pond was cleaned out by a Snowy Egret.(big bird)..must have spotted the pond from high altitude.

Yeah, my aunt's koi were cleaned out by a Great Blue Heron. Her pond was fairly small so it was really weird seeing the bird swoop down because it looked huge. It just landed on the side of the pond, stared a bit and took a koi and flew off. There's only one koi left now. 10 miles inland isn't too far for the Heron to go. THey'll go anywhere where there's water. You probably have a park with a lake nearby?

No park with a lake nearby. Oh I forgot to mention, half the pond is under a raised deck and thats where the fish hide out because there's shade so it's hard for a bird to get under there.

 

[gtsukada]

here is a pic of the koi pond in my backyard.

Koi Pond

i'm betting that it was a nice big racoon. i've seem everything from racoons to heron's take fish in my backyard. i never thought i would see a racoonn trying to take fish, but sure enough one night i saw one. those things are not as cute and cuddely as you would think. the one i saw was probably pushing 50 lbs. friggin cow i tell you.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: neutralizer

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: neutralizer
"The Great Blue Heron feeds mainly on small fish less than half the length of its bill, or under 65 mm long."

Kois are HUGE way bigger than that. And not to mention they don't come down here until the winter according to the site and it's summer.

You never said "koi" before. It's probably a racoon or a cat. Or even a dog, if your fish are docile enough.

Well, my backyard is surrounded by all my neighbor's backyard, I don't see how a raccoon can get past their yards without being attacked by their vicious dogs (same dogs that poop on my lawn).

Try to think of my stuff as fertilizer.

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: gtsukada
here is a pic of the koi pond in my backyard.

Koi Pond

i'm betting that it was a nice big racoon. i've seem everything from racoons to heron's take fish in my backyard. i never thought i would see a racoonn trying to take fish, but sure enough one night i saw one. those things are not as cute and cuddely as you would think. the one i saw was probably pushing 50 lbs. friggin cow i tell you.

You don't have a winter there, eh?

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: neutralizer

Originally posted by: IamElectro

Originally posted by: Fausto1
Sounds more like a raccoon to me.

Seriously, I've never seen a raccoon in SD.

Then again I AM posting on ATOT.

lol, i dunno where you are in SD, but up here in north county...i see a raccoon almost every night.

 

[focusyn]

a bird maybe? it's most likley a stray cat or something.

 

[neutralizer]

Originally posted by: focusyn
a bird maybe? it's most likley a stray cat or something.

stray cats get mauled by dogs, read

funny how this is back up again... but i'll try to find the bones of the fish when i get home

 

[gtsukada]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: gtsukada
here is a pic of the koi pond in my backyard.

Koi Pond

i'm betting that it was a nice big racoon. i've seem everything from racoons to heron's take fish in my backyard. i never thought i would see a racoonn trying to take fish, but sure enough one night i saw one. those things are not as cute and cuddely as you would think. the one i saw was probably pushing 50 lbs. friggin cow i tell you.

You don't have a winter there, eh?

haha nope, our winter is a cold 60 degrees.

 

[d33pt]

i can tell you tehre are plenty of raccoons in SD...i live by a canyon in the middle of the city and there are HUGE raccoons.. the biggest i've ever seen in my life. they feast in the dumpsters