Post this message again on the Ponds and Aquatic plant forum. You will get some answers there!

You need to seriously consider whether putting out poisoned-lace human food is a good idea, and whether inadvertently killing somebody's toddler, or precious family pet is worth it for some fish. I used to have koi and when they succumbed to predators or whatever else they eventually died from replaced them with nineteen cent feeder fish from a box store. They've interbred with my fancies, look just as beautiful, are twice as hardy, and breed faster than they die off.

Calliope is one hundred percent right. You must not use a universally desirable food laced with a highly toxic poison where non-target animals and birds can get to it.

So I guess the answer to my question, "Got any usefull ideas?" is no.

Voles and squirrels are quite famous for peeling the bark from trees.

There is a great deal of information on the Internet about various methods of protecting pond fish from raccoons and other predators. I guess I assumed that you had done some research and were going for the poisons as a viable option.

Here is a link that might be useful: Click here for information

I'm not entirely unempathetic to your plight. I have a 2K gallon pond and it was stocked initially with fish we payed $28 a pop for from a specialty fishery. Not thousands of dollars worth of Koi, but we aren't rich people so it was a major bite to us.

We live in the country, and all sorts of predators are everywhere. I can tell you this much, whatever got the fish in our pond were not racoons. I've fish in there now large and slow enough to fish and put in a skillet and fry and they aren't bothered anymore and we still have so many racoons, to shoot one would just bring two more. The supply is endless, so the killing is senseless.

I have seen green heron perched in our trees above the pond. Not saying the fish went that route either, but they're better fishermen than coons, and frankly I'd rather have the herons than the fish. I hope you get some good suggestions, but have found it so much less frustrating to deal with those sorts of issues by modifying the environment than mass eradication of anything. Predators need specific conditions to be met and when they change, the problem gets resolved by itself. Good luck.

Here's a useful idea. Get yourself an adult airgun in .22 caliber and shoot the raccoons with it. Then you are not poisoning anything.

I don't think that'll fly in a large residential California city, Kubota. BJ, since you aren't quite sure what is getting your Koi, do you find any sort of reside left from the fish bodies, or are they just disappearing? How large are the fish affected? I'm honestly trying to look at this in a problem solving light. You do have a problem and there should be a reasonable solution to it, somewhere.

DO NOT SHOOT THE RACCOONS. For people who supposedly like nature, I cannot believe ANYONE would suggest shooting or poisoning them. As frustrated as you are, the raccoons are just trying to survive. They don't understand that those are "your" fish and they have every right to live in this world as well. Remember, humans are ENCROACHING everywhere, and then we blame the animals.

I heard from a farmer if you want to keep raccoons away from a certain area to play a radio constantly. I have heard that the voices spook the raccoons, they think humans are near. We get raccoons on our deck and they destroy our bird feeders, and that is why I got this advice. I have not yet tried it, so it's just a thought.

I bet it's a fish-eating bird anyway, and not raccoons or any other land mammal. They typically go for easier targets.

I'm putting the final stages on my pond so the koi are in a two holding tanks. After the first attack, I put wire covers over the tanks. As the culprits returned I reinforced the wire with wood and bricks. I have been paying about $90 to $100 per fish including shipping from Hawaii. No. I'm not rich, but frugal. The last thing I am going to do as suggested is mix feeder fish with Koi, that would be like having a monkey having children with my daughter and thinking the off spring are beautiful.

There are scales and body parts around the yard when the deed is done. Sometimes they just ate the guts and brains and left the bodies behind. Also, the holing tanks are under a patio cover. Doubt that herons could see the fish and come in under the cover. Also, based on the damage to my raccoon control system it was not a bird.

The fish have been about 12" in length. Beautiful, non threatening, non destructive creatures (as opposed to raccoons).

I will not be getting any more fish until the pond is completed. There is small electric fence system (one wire held up my stakes) that I am thinking about installing.

Thanks for all your input.

Bruce, in San Jose, CA

It does sound like raccoon damage. But, given the coons on my property, I wonder why they don't fish my pond? It could be because my pond is spring fed and the water moving, perhaps. I think my hybrids are beautiful, monkey-children or not. LOL. At least they're plentiful and very much alive. My post was in no way meant to be aggressive. I have raccoon issues in that I raise fowl. My security precludes losses, but if any chick or hen gets out of the enclosures, they are goners. But, dispatching racoons don't work, they just keep coming. I hope your electric wires work, security and modifying the environment is usually the only way to really solve predator issues. It has to be very frustrating.

Recommending shooting anything you don't want seems to be a common solution offered by Kubota. I have noticed it recommended so far for chipmunks, gophers, and racoons. It's a temporary solution for a permanent problem. Then you start to get into grey areas, like what does he do with the pesky cat or dog from next door?

why on earth do you insist on having a koi pond? Fish are FOOD .

Mr.kubotabx2200 is right on the mark! Simply gotta shoot the Raccoons. Rabbits and Groundhogs are both rascals. The best way to 'get them' is to get about 6 or 7 tomatoes and put alot of sugar on them; and put them about 15 feet from their favorite hole or very close to the fish. The raccoons will almost immediately be attracted to the feast; then you can shoot them all. If there are zoning regulations against shooting in your locale - shoot them at night when the neighbors are asleep. Most will not 'get up to see what was shot' if the next day is a workday.
I have a shed that has animal issues also. If you have raccoons living under your shed, you and a few of your friends should spook them out and quickly hammer up some lattice all around the shed so they won't come back; you and some of your friends could often take a peek through the lattice to see if those annoying animals have burrowed under the latticework and might be back under the shed. May NOT want to shoot them while they are under the shed; they may be stuck too far under the shed or too heavy to pull out quickly; and if you couldn't pull them out in a reasonable time the smell would be quite powerful and could ruin your summer outdoors.
Raccoons will haunt you and your friends for a long, long time, if you dont catch them quickly. The will breed and multiply very, very quickly. They will eat all your fish.