What do you suppose ate my koi?

[DTisme]

We found one of our koi had been pulled from the pond and mostly eaten. What could do this? Haven't seen egrets or other water birds, only hawks, and I don't think they dive into water, or do they? Would a cat pull a fish from a pond? A mongoose? Trying to figure it out...

(edited subj. line from "at" to "ate")

[Kapohocat]

How big was the koi?

in our pond, cats and mongoose eat the 2-4" ones. Herons eat our sardine sized ones.

Nobody gets the big ones in our pond, although my cat would like to get herself a big koi that is only in her kitty dreams. Maybe a water rat got it?

[Royall]

Water Rat??

Royall

Hale O Na Mea Pa`ani

[Carey]

Cats, rats, dogs & mongoose(s) do take fish like Koi, along with hawks & heron can get some larger fish but they, like egrets & sometimes owls & some of the other shorebirds mainly take smaller fish. With any of these animals, hunger could have them go for a larger fish...

Cats, dogs & mongoose(s) have canines, & the bite marks on the carcass might have some canine scrapes if they are the culprits... rats have their razor sharp incisors, leaving more "bunny-like" gnaw marks.... birds rip & can leave talon marks

Back in the midwest, some folks strung fishing line over their koi ponds.... kept out some of the interested parties, but hunger would lead to interesting animal innovation on the predator side.... one heron was found weaving a fish out of a line strung pond....not sure how it got the fish, but it was determined to keep the fish!

[Cagary]

One thing that can help is when you are constructing your pond, you create good size underwater cave for the fish to hide in should a predator appear.

Most people don't and their koi are just "sitting ducks".

[tada]

pigs??

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Carey...

Back in the midwest, some folks strung fishing line over their koi ponds.... kept out some of the interested parties, but hunger would lead to interesting animal innovation on the predator side.... one heron was found weaving a fish out of a line strung pond....not sure how it got the fish, but it was determined to keep the fish!

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In Big Bear, my family have bear, & racoons stealing koi!

[DTisme]

Sorry for delay - was sick for a few days. The koi was like 6-8" long. I didn't see the carcass, hubby did, so I don't know about the size of the bite marks. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for the next one. Neighbor was out of town for a few weeks and I don't know if anyone was feeding his kitty. That's my main suspect! 80% of the pond is covered with hyacinths. I thought that would be enough cover. Apparently not. RIP fishy.

[lahdeedah]

I've seen a night heron take a koi eight inches long in its beak and fly away with it.

[DTisme]

Yeah, that's why I thought it might be a mammal - I'd assume a bird would have flown off with his catch.