At least they were only goldfish.

It might have been a raccon as well. Posters have said that racoons leave a mess when they steal fish.

The evidence would point to a raccoon, IMHO. If they can get on my roof or climb a tree they can get over your 5' fence. They regularly remove floating plants from my pond. They are reasonably well fed so they don't try to catch the fish any more but they keep biting the floating plants and digging up the potted ones. Sandy

I agree with Sandy, the evidence points to a racoon. They are notorious for trashing ponds, and they have no trouble going over fences. There are also plenty in cities. I had never seen one in the city until one landed in my back yard early one morning after electrocuting itself on the power lines overhead -- knocking out power along with it.

I agree that it sounds as if it was a raccoon. I have seen them climb my 6' chain link fences, 6' stockade fences, of course trees and then onto my roof. And yes they make a mess when getting into the pond. I had one visit last night I think. Watercress out of the pond, rocks knocked in, decorative froggies under water on the opposite side of the pond. Plants knocked over..ugh. All fishies there tho.
Set a live trap and relocate it at least 5 miles away if you continue to have probs. SOrry about the loss.

Mostly, it just doesn't sound like a cat. They wouldn't remove the plants,in my experience.

In the decade that my pond has existed, it has never been bothered by any animals. If racoons are responsible for removing/eating the fish from the small pool, I think they would have done something to my pond in the last 10 years. Not one fish has been removed. Not one plant pot has been upset.

I have blueberry bushes enclosed in a wooden frame covered by netting. The "cage" has a door so we can enter to maintain and pick the berries. Occasionally a bird will get trapped inside. A few months ago two doves got trapped in the cage. I was late for an evening appointment, so I open the door and hoped they would fly out. The next morning I found feathers and blood. I suspected a cat killed the doves as well.

John,

You've convinced us. Unthinkable that it was a racoon. At this point the next logical suspect would be Bigfoot. Have you checked for tracks?

Or, perhaps it was messy aliens. They use young goldfish in many of their "experiments" in anticipation of taking over the planet.

I was going to say that it sounded like Raccoons to me also, because of the plants being removed. It really doesn't matter whether it was a cat or a raccoon anyway. The damage has already been done. And you are already convinced it was a cat. Glenda

Wait a minute. I never ruled out a raccoon as the fish thief. I just find it extremely odd that they NEVER disturbed my pond in over a decade and still have not disturbed my pond.

As I said, the missing fish were in a small plastic container I placed on a concrete deck connect to my house. My pond remains undisturbed and all fish are accounted for.

Daniellalell, I also have watercress in my pond. If a raccoon were around, I think it would have done some damage to the pond. Knock over a plant or leave some tracks. Thanks for the kind words.

Sandy, I appreciate your opinion. It's just hard to believe raccoons would never disturb my pond in 10 years, yet disturb a small plastic container the first night it was left out. I think the pond would be a magnet to them if they were around. The sound of my falls would have certainly alerted them to the existence of the pond. What am I missing?

I don't know much about cats, but my pond is often visited by neighborhood strays. I've seen them catch and eat chipmunks. I just though they may also eat fish if they could catch them.

Groundbeef1, your post was very funny. I hope that was your intention.

Hey there, John. Sometimes I think raccoons and I have some sort of really wacky relationship going on. I absolutely love the critters and have a hard time not deliberately attracting them. They are smart, sneaky, curious and about a dozen other adjectives that are unprintable in this forum. They often travel through our backyard at night, sometimes stopping and sometimes not. It depends on a lot of things. The first "pond" I had was a dinky 14 inch deep hard-side in which there were way too many fish. I hadn't noticed the raccoons previously but one morning I was greeted with the mutilated carcasses of 11 koi. Not one had been eaten. I sat out that night and sure enough the killers were back. I made my presence known with a blast from the hose and they scattered only to be back the next night. I got one of those Scarecrow water cannons and that worked fairly well but the little vandals are still persistent and I spend frequent nights guarding the pond and my fishies. Two weeks ago they decided to have a riot and proceeded to toss pot after pot of plants into the water. They came 5 times in 9 nights. My pond was a mud hole. The pump gave out and I have had to order a new one. The pre-filter was clogged up with more than 2 quarts of clay and those little rocks they use to keep the mud in the pots. They have been visiting other lucky residents for the last few nights but I expect their visits as much as I expect the sun to rise in the east. I am never going to get rid of them. Once a neighbor, up in Wisconsin, bragged to us that he "got" the raccoon that had been robbing his bird feeders at night. We didn't bother to tell him that the one raccoon that he wounded with bird shot was only one of at least 53 we saw regularly at night. We did tell him it was probably illegal to use a gun within 300 feet of a dwelling or road in Wisconsin. Sigh... We are in the city limits with no open land except for the high-school campus. Most of the neighbors have no idea what kind of animals visit at night. The cats get blamed for everything. Sandy

John. You've described exatly why they are so successful. Every time I've thought there could be no way a racoon was responsible for a disapearing fish or messed up plants, I set a trap with tuna and peanut butter bread and within a week I've caught one, two, or three. This spring we had several fish go missing. I thought for sure it could not have been a 'coon because of the configuration of the pool. It was.

Later when our fish were in a temporary bog they refused to come up for two weeks (water was shallow and green). I thought there was no way it could be a 'coon. I was up working late at night in the backyard, the lights were on most of the time, and I'd already caught every racon a month before and with lots of bait, no one came to our trap (live trap) for over a week. Thought all was clear... it was not. Over the next 3 night I caught 3 racoons (2 in one night).

One other rare possability is a possum or groundhog.

Or Bigfoot.