Fish have disappeared!

[Buzby!97]

We have only had our goldfish about 2 months in a garden pond about 30ft diameter, and we have a small waterfall, activated by a pump and plenty of vegetation. To begin with when I fed them they didn't appear at all until I crept back about 10 minutes later and they would all be swimming around. Then four days ago my husband did a bit of clearing out of some of the plants and since then I haven't seen a single fish. I am feeding them Koi type pellets, which on the first day I gave them they seemed to like but now they seem to have disappeared completely although we have seen a couple of tiny fry, the pond is about 4ft in the centre, do you think they got frightened and have retreated to the bottom, or have they been eaten? We have/had 10 goldfish and 5 shubunkins, plus one with a pretty tail which came from an aquarium.

[Megalodon]

It could be birds? Herons got a taste for my dads pond fish (not to say other smaller species didn't) and cleared them out! The first netting had holes too large (I know, why?) but when we got a smaller netting to use as a cover our fish stopped disappearing :) we had the same fish as you, could be something like that?
Try getting some netting to put over your pond and see if that protects any new fish.

[WaMiss]

We had a heron that got some of ours. My son put one of his duck decoys out there and the heron hasn't been back. Mine seem to only be near the surface when the sun hits the water.

[Lady Hobbs]

Been a few reports here of raccoons and cats dragging fish from ponds. Those plants your hubby thinned out may have offered them more hiding spaces from predators.

[Scrup]

They could be hiding somewhere. If it was a racoon or a cat you would probably find a corpse somewhere. If it was a heron they will just vanish.

It could be they are just spooked from the recent activity, if there are lots of hiding places they might just be out of view.

Just gotta wait and see most likely.

[fishguy66]

My brother-in-law's koi were being eaten by a heron, so he did as suggested above, & put netting over the pond. My suggestion would be to put up a video camera & see what if anything is eating your fish.

[Furface]

Any signs of pond disturbance? Most predators leave behind disrupted plants along the edge or in the water. Seems a little too deep for a raccoon to have gotten them. Whenever I have added new little fish they seemingly disappear, sometimes for several days but show up later on. They are very good at hiding around rocks and plants, especially if a predator did check them out. Trying to get them to come out only makes them hid longer.

[rissa]

Sounds like herons here in England
there the bain of most pond keepers.
I have heard of putting wires around the
pool as the herons wont step over them.

[adavisus]

If waters have cooled off and the fish appetite has dropped, the fish may be happier twiddling their thumbs wherever they feel most safe, out of sight

On a pond that size there may well be plenty of natural food to find and they are less likely to be tempted by fish food when waters cool

A few chopped earthworms dropped where you can see them might indicate if fish are tempted out of cover, if they disappear overnight, someone is enjoying tasty nibblies...

Predator attacks can have fish shy and hiding for weeks

Regards, andy

[kilyth]

Fish can be terribly hard to see in ponds, so hopefully just that they're hiding out of sight.

[TimGoldfish]

Did you ever solve the Case of the Missing Fish? Hope so!

[Lady Hobbs]

She hasn't returned since October.