how to protect fish in an outdoors fishtank against raccoons?

[Edward Hua]

Hi,

My parents have two fishtanks too large to be placed inside the house,
so they set them up in the backyard. In them they had some 20 different
fish, big and small, that they took care of everyday. But this morning
when they went out to the yard, they found the fishtanks ransacked,
with the fish gone, their body parts scattered on the ground. It
appeared that some wild animal snuck in in the middle of the night, forced
its way through the surrounding flower pots, took off the covering glass on
top of the tanks, and had quite a feast. Since some of these fish my
parents have had for three years, needless to say they were really
heart-broken when they saw the massacre in the morning.

This is not the first time it happened. In the past, there were a
couple of incidents some wild animal (our guess is raccoons) came in at
night, eating our fish, leaving a mess behind. Learning the lesson the
hard way, my parents have put up added defense against such intrusions,
short of killing the intruders with poision (frankly now I'm very tempted
by that idea). But last night topped them all, with but one of the 20
fish barely alive.

So my question is if anybody could suggest a way of preventing this
from happening again. I know people here in New Jersey, bothered by deer
entering their yard, put up electric fences. I wonder if there's anything
like that for fishtanks as well. Also, since my parents live in the
outskirts of Los Angeles (more inland area), their backyard facing the
foot of the hill, does anybody have any idea what kind of animal could be
doing all this damage? Is a raccoon capable of such things? Do they eat
fish?

If you know of another newsgroup that more directly deals with this
kind of questions, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

-Ed

[Gunther]

In article <Pine.LNX.4.44.0401251411461.11517-100000
@photon.ece.cornell.edu>, says...
.... Also, since my parents live in the
> outskirts of Los Angeles (more inland area), their backyard facing the
> foot of the hill, does anybody have any idea what kind of animal could be
> doing all this damage? Is a raccoon capable of such things? Do they eat
> fish?
>

Ng's rec.ponds and alt.garden.pond.chat might be good places to ask.
A "tank too big to bring indoors" sounds like an elevated pond to me.

And for sure, raccoons are in that area and are capable of doing that
and much more. I swear, if they had longer legs, they could probably
drive cars.
Depending on which outskirt you're talking about, cougars (aka mountain
lions) are another possibility. They rarely venture into residential
areas, but this summer's fire storms destroyed much habitat for their
natural prey, hence they may be a bit bolder now.
However, given that you said they removed the glass top from the tanks
(?) I'd suspect raccoons.

Or, is it possible they had 2-legged helpers?

Anyway, I'm sorry for their loss, and hope whatever it
was really needed the meal.

Gunther

[Donald Kerns]

..22 LR or larger. <EG>

Or charge them per plate for the sushi.

Coons had all the fish in my first tub garden for breakfast one day.
Haven't had too many nice thoughts about racoons since.

-Donald
--
"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving
that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the
proof." -Galbraith's Law

[George Thompson]

Excuse my ignorance with racoons, being from the UK we only have to
deal with cats (everything else dangerous has pretty much been hunted
to extinction). Couldn't you just stick a bit of wood over the pond
and stick several bricks ontop of it. Something generally heavier
than a 5yrold child could lift?

Do rodent repellers work? In the UK they're electonic little plugins
that get rid of moles, cats, squirrels etc I've never used one, but
my uncle did to stop his fish being hooked out by the local cats.

Otherwise, I suggest you look at one of the poultry newsgroups.
Obviously they have lots of problems with preditors and have come up
with some really good methods of trapping/repelling them.

[[email protected]]

check on rec.ponds, but raccoons are great big herbivores with sharp teeth and are
not rodents.
1. electric fence
2. scarecrow water cannon
Ingrid

(George Thompson) wrote:

>Excuse my ignorance with racoons, being from the UK we only have to
>deal with cats (everything else dangerous has pretty much been hunted
>to extinction). Couldn't you just stick a bit of wood over the pond
>and stick several bricks ontop of it. Something generally heavier
>than a 5yrold child could lift?
>
>Do rodent repellers work? In the UK they're electonic little plugins
>that get rid of moles, cats, squirrels etc I've never used one, but
>my uncle did to stop his fish being hooked out by the local cats.
>
>Otherwise, I suggest you look at one of the poultry newsgroups.
>Obviously they have lots of problems with preditors and have come up
>with some really good methods of trapping/repelling them.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Edward Hua]

Thanks to all who replied to my question. Ok, to summarize, I got a couple
suggestions from you folks:

1)rodent repellers (but according to Ingrid, it may not work on
raccoons since they're not rodents).
2)electric fences
3)scarecrow water cannons (cute and nasty, my favorite combination).
4)bricks (that's what my parents currently do, but with no use)
5)could be cougars instead of raccoons. I'd rather think it's not,
but Gunther has a point about the wildfires in California a couple months
ago. My parents's house is soutwhest of the Rancho Cucamanga, one of the
fire sites, and their neigbhborhood was threatened but turned out ok.
6)guns and sushi. Smokin'!

I'll pass on the info to my parents, and will post to a couple other
newsgroups. Thanks again.

-Ed

[Cheryl Isaak]

Sorry Ingrid!
Raccoons are omnivores - and LOVE fish, snails and frogs!
Cheryl

On 1/26/04 6:15 PM, in article ,
" > wrote:

> check on rec.ponds, but raccoons are great big herbivores with sharp teeth and
> are
> not rodents.
> 1. electric fence
> 2. scarecrow water cannon
> Ingrid
>
> (George Thompson) wrote:
>
>> Excuse my ignorance with racoons, being from the UK we only have to
>> deal with cats (everything else dangerous has pretty much been hunted
>> to extinction). Couldn't you just stick a bit of wood over the pond
>> and stick several bricks ontop of it. Something generally heavier
>> than a 5yrold child could lift?
>>
>> Do rodent repellers work? In the UK they're electonic little plugins
>> that get rid of moles, cats, squirrels etc I've never used one, but
>> my uncle did to stop his fish being hooked out by the local cats.
>>
>> Otherwise, I suggest you look at one of the poultry newsgroups.
>> Obviously they have lots of problems with preditors and have come up
>> with some really good methods of trapping/repelling them.
>
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
> http://puregold.aquaria.net/
> www.drsolo.com
> Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
> compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
> endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Tom La Bron]

Just goes to show ya that Ingrid doesn't know what she is talking about.
That is another one for my Ingrid file.

Tom L.L.
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Cheryl Isaak" > wrote in message
...
> Sorry Ingrid!
> Raccoons are omnivores - and LOVE fish, snails and frogs!
> Cheryl
>
> On 1/26/04 6:15 PM, in article ,
> " > wrote:
>
> > check on rec.ponds, but raccoons are great big herbivores with sharp
teeth and
> > are
> > not rodents.
> > 1. electric fence
> > 2. scarecrow water cannon
> > Ingrid
> >
> > (George Thompson) wrote:
> >
> >> Excuse my ignorance with racoons, being from the UK we only have to
> >> deal with cats (everything else dangerous has pretty much been hunted
> >> to extinction). Couldn't you just stick a bit of wood over the pond
> >> and stick several bricks ontop of it. Something generally heavier
> >> than a 5yrold child could lift?
> >>
> >> Do rodent repellers work? In the UK they're electonic little plugins
> >> that get rid of moles, cats, squirrels etc I've never used one, but
> >> my uncle did to stop his fish being hooked out by the local cats.
> >>
> >> Otherwise, I suggest you look at one of the poultry newsgroups.
> >> Obviously they have lots of problems with preditors and have come up
> >> with some really good methods of trapping/repelling them.
> >
> >
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
> > http://puregold.aquaria.net/
> > www.drsolo.com
> > Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
> > compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
> > endorsements or recommendations I make.
>

[[email protected]]

YES OF COURSE.... duh. musta had temporary brain death when I wrote that. And I
had one as a pet even!!! ate everything that wasnt nailed down. heh, heh. Good
catch Cheryl. Ingrid

Cheryl Isaak > wrote:
>Sorry Ingrid!
>Raccoons are omnivores - and LOVE fish, snails and frogs!
>Cheryl
>
>On 1/26/04 6:15 PM, in article ,
" > wrote:
>
>> check on rec.ponds, but raccoons are great big herbivores with sharp teeth and
>> are
>> not rodents.
>> 1. electric fence
>> 2. scarecrow water cannon
>> Ingrid


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

[Happy'Cam'per]

> and much more. I swear, if they had longer legs, they could probably
> drive cars.

LOL....Yes, then we would have to change their name to Car-oons
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

[Happy'Cam'per]

Hey Tom, you got a chip on your shoulder mate. Being so defensive is'nt good
for your health. Are you constipated? You need to let it go mullet boy ;?
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"Tom La Bron" > wrote in message
...
> Just goes to show ya that Ingrid doesn't know what she is talking about.
> That is another one for my Ingrid file.