Pond - Fish Loss

[matiny2k]

I've had my pond in place for two years without any loss of fish and last night I think I lost just about all of them. Probably about 2 left.

Came down this morning to find two of the larger carp (about a pound in weight) on the lawn with their heads missing. The pond is over a metre deep so have never been too worried about herons. Unfortunately, my cctv was playing up last night (typical) but I got some footage - on Youtube on the link below. Can anyone tell me what this is please - I'm thinking a mink ? I have wire fencing all around the bottom of the conifers to keep rabbits off the lawn but it's not been pegged down tightly across it's length and was breached in a couple of places by the predator.


Thanks in advance.


Mat

 

[RedhillPhil]

Looks a bit Otterish to me, although fish with their heads removed seemed odd behaviour

 

[tipitinmick]

Looks suspiciously like an Otter to me. You say the heads, is there any internal organs missing from the carp at all ? What a shame. Sorry for your loss pal. I have heron problems every winter. I mesh my pond up to death but, they still have a go.

 

[Trogg]

Have to agree, it looks very much like an Otter, if they have a good hunt they bite the heads off to kill the fish so they will be where they left them when they come back for more.

 

[matiny2k]

Ah. No organs. Just heads off - and loads just gone altogether.

 

[ukzero1]

Otter in my opinion, possibly a small Mink but I'm doubtful.

 

[Dave Spence]

Leave the corpses where they are, ensure the cctv is working and see if the culprit comes back.

 

[Mark Tierney]

That is definitely an otter. Work on a trout farm and see the devastation on a regular basis

 

[matiny2k]

Thanks everyone. It came back last night - six hours earlier than the night before. Took the remaining two fish I believe. I had reinforced the fencing at the bottom but I never had enough pegs to make it super tight. It managed to squeeze under after a bit of a struggle. Amazingly, our two cats were right there and just watched. Not sure who would have won a fight between them. Gutted to lose everything. Have been here five years and have never lost a fish.

I guess I'll need to make sure I get some proper good fencing sorted over the winter.


Mat

 

[dry nets]

Electric fence

 

[Maesknoll]

Looks a bit Otterish to me, although fish with their heads removed seemed odd behaviour

When there are plenty of fish to take, they often just eat the brains/ head part. Definitely looks like an otter to me, Mink aren’t so long.

 

[Dave]

As far as I know we've no Otters in my area, and if there was and it took an interest in my pond fish there'd be one less.

 

[endpeg]

.22 Air rifle no more problem?

 

[Stretch1066]

Careful what you say on an open forum, they are protected!!

 

[ukzero1]

.22 Air rifle no more problem?

I tend to agree. If the fish are my property, then I'll protect them.

 

[John Step]

Our club lake had an otter devastation about 10 years ago. We bit the bullet and installed an electric "fence" which I will describe below.
We have worked hard at restoring the lake and touch wood it has kept them at bay.

We put stakes in around the lake about 5 yards apart then ran wires on insulators to surround the lake.
Each wire was set on advice to the width of about 4 inches apart. There are 6 wires now, parallel.
All connected to a box that delivers the shock. They are used by farmers etc and cost about £80 if memory serves.
Make sure there are no stumps or other objects the otter can climb to get over of course.
You plug it into the mains. There is no out and return suply. Just the one strand. I dont know why this defies the normal wiring systems but it does.
Link each parallel wire with a wire.
Dont touch it when on or your neighbours will hear you shout profanities.

 

[Trogg]

if you can get your hands on weldmesh (local scrap yards usually have it in) dig it down about 2ft and put bricks/rock/large stones etc along the bottom then fill it in...fasten your normal fencing to it, it's not fool proof but it works.

 

[tipitinmick]

if you can get your hands on weldmesh (local scrap yards usually have it in) dig it down about 2ft and put bricks/rock/large stones etc along the bottom then fill it in...fasten your normal fencing to it, it's not fool proof but it works.

Exactly what I've done to protect our 130 chickens and 35 ducks Trogg. Also I've installed five parallel lines of electric fencing around them. This comes out of having numerous fox attacks. The one we have is plugged into the mains and I believe gives a 10Kv pulsed voltage out. And yes, it hurts if you wee on it. Ask my two dogs. ?

 

[Dave]

At what point do pond fish which can be classed as Pets become protectable?

If a Fox went after your pet Rabbit, or a stray dog went after your dog or cat you can take measures to protect them, so why not pond fish?

 

[Trogg]

Exactly what I've done to protect our 130 chickens and 35 ducks Trogg. Also I've installed five parallel lines of electric fencing around them. This comes out of having numerous fox attacks. . ?

Same here when we had our ducks mate, went to a couple of scrap yards and eventually found some galvanised weldmesh panels 3ft square £2 each bought 20 of them, dug em down 2 ft then fastened the chickenwire fence to it.