Calling all Cars, Missing fish

Alert!! Missing Fish! Alert!!

11-12 inch long koi.
Beautiful metallic platinum white color.
Slim stylish figure.
Thin facial structure. 
Long flowing fins.
A long time resident of the Koi Garden pond, at least for the last three years.
Patty was last seen swimming two days ago, in and around the Koi Garden pond..
Other residents of the pond were not able to give additional information.

If you have seen this fish, please contact the Koi Garden Guy, immediately.

I had been leaving the pond uncovered for the last few days.
I know.
I know.

I was risking the wrath of the local animals which spend the days, and nights scheming about how to get to my expensive little pond dwellers. I see the eagles and herons circle with hungry looks toward the Koi Garden. I have already written about the Raccoons and their relentless scheming. But the weather was so nice and I wanted to give them as much sun as possible…. So I left the pond screen off… and Patty is missing.

There are presently no clues as to the whereabouts of Patty.
I have looked around within the pond as best as I can with the green water and can see no Patty.
I have also looked around the adjoining garden for any carcass remnants (Oh No!!!), but so far I can not find anything that might indicate a Raccoon feeding fest.

I am holding out for the best.

Birds of Wrath!!!!!

One of the challenges of a koi pond is the constant fight with predators.  I have documented ad nauseum about my wars with the local raccoon clan.  But there are other predators for the koi pond owner to be aware of.  One of the local Koi ponds in our neighborhood has a particular problem with herons.  This pond, which has been documented in earlier posts, is a natural style pond with a waterfall, lush plants and overhanging trees.

Apparently the herons fly by, see the pond, and the brightly colored residents and drop down for a closer look.  They then hop into shallow areas of the pond, where they stand motionless until a unsuspecting fish swims by.  The fish is then unceremoniously skewered and quickly eaten. Not at all a neighborly thing to do, especially to beautiful and expensive Japanese koi….  No, No siree, Bob, definitely something to be restricted or avoided altogether…

In the Koi Garden pond, I have solved this problem in a number of ways. My pond has very steep sides.   Heron cannot walk down the sides as they can with a natural pond.  The shape of the Koi Garden pond is very even which also allows for use of a wooden frame with a plastic screen.  It keeps the predators out but allows the sun and water recirculation.  It also has the benefit of keeping any leaves, etc out.

This problem becomes larger with natural or irregularly shaped ponds that don’t lend themselves to ponds screens.  In this type of pond a plastic screen just doesn’t work well, especially if you want to remove the screen for certain occasions, such as cleaning or picture taking.

For ponds where a plastic screen won’t work, other solutions come into play.  One of the most interesting ones I have seen to use hang fishing wire in between adjoining trees.   The herons see the wire and avoid it like the plague.  They have a wide wing span and don’t want to get caught up in the fishing wire.  The fishing wire spans the space between trees over the pond high enough to not affect either access or the view of the pond.  In fact this pond owner has even attached ornamental metal leaves that move in the breeze for a festive look.  These metallic, flashing leaves also threaten the herons. 

Mission accomplished!!!!!

Birds and Bees in the Koi Garden

We have had many visitors to the Koi Garden so far this year.  Many family members have visited us and stopped by to see the happenings. 

But we have also had visitors of a smaller variety:  The Birds and the Bees have come to the Koi Garden; literally!!!!

One of the later additions in the last few years has been a very nice “Goldenchain” tree (Laburnum).  While not a tree that normally is found in Japanese or Chinese gardens, I just love the cascading flowers every Spring.  It makes for nice photos, both close up and further away.  And with all those flowers, the trees have become magnets for both Bumble Bees and Hummingbirds.  Both of these are welcome visitors!!!

Another of the visitors has set up residence.  A small bird has moved into one of the bird houses built from license plates.   The bird house was placed behind the Goldenchain tree and close by both water and bird feeders;  a pretty smart bird!!!  While we have heard no chirping coming from the bird house yet, there is quite a lot of movement in and out, with one bird bringing lots of food in.  I am speculating that his partner is in the house tending to the eggs.  I will keep you informed re and new inhabitants of the Koi Garden in upcoming weeks.

Grave robbers in the Koi Garden

Last week I posted about the death of one of my fish in the Koi Garden; a nice Kumonru named Rhu.

After a quick burial in the garden, I thought that would be the end of it.  Apparently my nemesis thought otherwise.  Within a day the fish was dug up and removed, with nothing left but the disrupted soil.  Hmmm, not exactly the neighborly actions one would expect and hope for in the Koi Garden. 

A quick perusal of the surrounding areas yielded no remains as might be expected with say a cat or possibly a squirrel.  And while I didn’t look at any front porches around the neighborhood, I have heard of no reports of any “gifts” for their owners from any cats, either. 

No, I think that this is the work of my nemesis from the past, the Raccoon.  It might even be a family affair as it was in the past.  In the past it was the plums and pears, now it is the fish. 

For new readers, the Koi Garden has always had issues with this Raccoon and his ilk in the past.  They had wreaked havoc on the lilies and sword plants.  They also had a penchant for playing with anything floating in the pond.  They loved the glass floats we have and had a special game they played with the floating thermometer.  They must have really liked the thermometer as I am sure they stole it for their own nefarious needs.  We now use a plastic screen to keep them away from the pond fish and the plants, at least early in the spring when the Raccoons are setting up their circuit that they use for the summer. 

Nope, this is just an escalation of the ongoing war I am having with my nemesis, the Raccoon.  I am thinking that he was just cruising by seeing if we had forgotten to place the screen for the night, and smelled the deceased fish.  I bet he/they scooped up the fish and headed off, probably to their local Raccoon eatery….

My nemesis has a hot tub?

Well, what can I say, it might be war. It also might be a faulty pool thermometer. I don’t know. But I really have a suspicion that my nemesis, the raccoons are back. Or maybe nemesi? Is that a word? Or is it nemesis’? Either way, some background is required.

Because the weather changes a lot this time of year, I use a floating thermometer, the same kind used in swimming pools and hot tubs, to monitor temperature. I check it every few days and if need be, turn off the heater or turn it back on as needed.

That is where the problems began. I looked to check the thermometer the other day and could not find it. I looked everywhere. I had removed the string holding the thermometer because in a 3 foot by 10 foot pond, how far can a floating thermometer wander? And what self respecting Koi Garden pond owner would damage the look with an ugly, algae ridden string draped across the pond?

A pool thermometer doesn’t just walk away on it’s own. And I don’t think a new thermometer would just sink on its own? Of course because the water has been warm lately, it is still very green and I can’t be 100% sure it isn’t at the bottom.

Nope, it must be the Raccoons. I know it is them. They have come back and taken the pond thermometer for their own nefarious needs. The gauntlet has been thrown. They have sent a message. It is now mano a mano. Man vs Raccoon.

An over-reaction, you say? A fictional foe, you might think? An early onset of SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder)?

I think not.
There have been other signs that they are here. A disrupted set of glass floats. A moved bamboo water outlet. There are even signs on the pond cover has been bounced on while playing with the water outlet. Even a broken floating ceramic turtle; the head was ripped off.

The gloves are coming off….

More later.....

Peeping Tom

I had written earlier about the Raccoons that frequent the neighborhood. Well, where there was one, there are now many. The earlier visitor has now built a family of four or five, but I get ahead of myself.

One night this week we heard a few sounds from the Koi Garden and wondered what they were. We had thought it might be a neighbor rustling around his yard?; Maybe a late night party in the other neighbor’s yard?; Looking out the window of the third story of our townhome, we looked through the branches of the plum and pear trees that line the Koi Garden, straining our eyes to see someone on the ground below, first in one neighbor’s yard, then the next... Nothing…

As I was about to give up, I changed my focus and slowly noticed something much closer. Not ten feet out my window, at my own level high above the ground, I saw the reflections of two small eyes looking directly at me. They belonged to a small Raccoon, sitting in the tree. The plum and pear trees are full of good pickings this time of year and the Raccoon was taking advantage of a bounty. That was what this chap was doing, sitting there eating a pear.

I thought about trying to take a picture of the interloper from the bedroom, but decided against it since I would need a flash, and the window between us would make that impossible. I then ventured outside into the Koi Garden to catch the bandits red handed from there. That’s where the photography problems began.

When I left the house, camera in hand, the motion sensitive flood lights made their presence known; first at the parking strip and then in the Koi Garden. Each of them is set to turn flood lights on when motion occurs in their space. And flood lights they are. Those four lights have enough brightness to almost blind a person, especially when you are trying to maintain night vision to see our little noise makers. Every time I moved they would go off, thereby blinding me for the next few minutes. I tried to stay motionless to not upset either the motion detector or the raccoons. That did not work, especially when I was trying to get the camera adjusted to take a shot in the dark.

Consequently I was only able to get this photo. It shows only one of the four pairs of reflected eyes. The rest of the family of interlopers is as yet unrecorded.

For the non believers out there I have added an additional photo of the cast-offs of a delightful night of fruit for the poachers.

I am certain I will get additional opportunities for proof of this family of bandits as there are plenty of plums, cherries and pears still ripe for them to enjoy.

Competition with the Koi Garden

Raccoon eyes in my garden

We have had many visitors at our KoiGarden. In addition to a industrious band of Squirrels and an occasional Heron, we have had an eagle come by and investigate the pond. But perhaps the most interesting visitor we have had in the KoiGarden was a mysterious Raccoon. This visitor is not easy to see, visiting in the early hours of the day. In fact, it took us a long time to be certain that we had gotten on his circuit.

At the time we found many shredded Lily pads and nervous fish. The Raccoons also delighted in ripping the netting we had over the pond. But there was no permanent damage. Like humans Raccoons don’t like to bellyflop into water, so your first action in the fight against the goggle-eyed marauders is to have sharp edges to your pond. Also placing a net over the pond is a fairly good deterrent. But this is not perfect, as in our case. The flexible netting is the most transparent, but also the easiest to get around, as in the case of our wily visitor. Raccoons have quite sharp teeth and can make easy handy work with the light netting. Even if they do get into your pond, giving the fish a hiding place at the bottom will be quite helpful. A series of cement pipe sections can serve the need quite well, depending on the size of your fish.


After finding the netting ripped many mornings, we built a pond cover composed of metal netting and a wood frame for easy movement and structural integrity. And that was how we finally saw our four legged bandit of the wilderness world. Actually, we heard him at first. Shaking a large metal screen at 4 in the morning is not too quiet. But despite all his efforts, he was not able to get into the pond. By sneaking out to investigate, we finally saw our menace and his failure to get around our latest defenses. In the spring, Raccoons spend most of their food finding efforts finding following a circuit. Once their food searching circuit is set, they will keep it for a while. So we have been lucky in using the metal screen in the winter and early in the spring. Then we can remove the screen and enjoy easier visibility and access to our water friends.