We do not have coons around here, and I do not think mink or weasel would come so far into the center of the city. I have often wondered about whether I was going to find a gull floating in the pond, especially after the mallards last year. Something else for the dogs to chase. I will have to leave the door oopen for them at night. I have 2 of the 7 left that I can see. I have a bit of net strung across the feeding spot, hopefully it is the hunting spot as well. I am pretty sure it is a large bird from the droppings left behind, add insult to injury. A gull would make sense. Thanks

Ten years ago, when I first moved out to the country I had a small gaggle of geese I raised myself by hand. They would eat out of my hand, very affectionate, and I made them a little pond when they were goslings. They would take naps with me-- I loved them and my little flock of chickens very much. So they all made their nests around the barn area and all of them hatched goslings of their own. It was really something to see, they were all beautiful Toulouse geese. Then early one morning I went out as usual to feed everybody, and to my everlasting horror I found them all dead. Torn to pieces, not eaten, mind you, just killed and torn to pieces, all the goslings with their heads torn off. I ran to the hen house and opened the door to find two raccoons in there busily killing my chickens-- there were six dead on the henhouse floor. I screamed for my husband to get the gun, screamed so loud he heard me all the way in the house, and scared the raccoons so bad they went back out a three inch ventilation hole at the top of the henhouse wall (which is how they got in) as slick as a whistle, I wouldn't have believed it possible if I hadn't have seen it with my own eyes. I have since come to the conclusion that they can flatten their bodies out to an incredible degree, their heads are very flat, and I suppose their rib cages can flatten out much like rats' can. We have since put chicken wire over every ventilation hole in the hen house. I began to realize then that raccoons are not the adorable little Walt Disney-esque creatures I used to believe them to be. But I still used Have-a-Heart traps over the years to try to control them, driving them far away and releasing them. Until last week. When I found my favorite duck, Francis, a beautiful male Rouen with the most beautiful feathers I've ever seen, dying, partially eaten alive, because I was unavoidably late getting home to close the hen house and the raccoons had come. My dog was going crazy when I got home trying to get into the enclosed henyard, which I ran to from the car, as fast as I could, I flung open the henyard gate, my dog ran in and chased the raccoon out of the yard, leaving me to put my once-beautiful half-eaten Francis out of his misery. I cried over that one, folks. I'm still sick about it. We've now strung electric wire above and along the henyard fence, and I'll be shooting the raccoons I catch from now on. They carry rabies, and you people are foolish to feed them and invite them onto your property. They are very intelligent, I'll give them that, and they can modify their behavior as needs be to get what they want. But they are the original natural born killers. Be careful.

Catsmom, It has happened to many fish it seems. I have had it happen in my pond, where a particular fish was missing for over two months and suddenly reappeared one day. Many other pond owners on this forum, have reported the same weird story about an errant fish returning, none for the worse, to their ponds, after an absence of a few days or weeks. Some years ago it was decide by a few of us here on this forum, after reading about so many of these "Missing Fish Reports" and giving it serious consideration, that it must be the aliens who are abducting these fish, doing what they do to fish and then returning them back to our ponds. We we figured the alien abduction theory, explained it more logically, than the fish being stuck behind a rock, in a bottom drain or in between the skimmer and the liner for days/weeks at a time scenarios. People find stories like that very hard to accept. Your friends will give you strange looks and will avoid having conversations with you! So just put it down to an alien abduction and call your local television news room right away! LOL "Horton"

Bear in mind that goldfish live 10-20 years and eventually grow to be 8-12" long and would outgrow 6 gallons within a year. It's a myth that they grow only as large as the container--it's more like they get sick and die from the stress of living in unsuitable conditions. Another thing to consider is the pleasure you get from watching your fish & their graceful movements as they swim around. Its so relaxing! If the space is too small or cramped and all they can do is just turn around...you just don't that same effect. Also the bigger and older they get the more they seem to develop real personalities so all in all I do think it's best to plan for their ultimate size. Yes I do think goldfish are happiest in groups of 3 or more. With a schooling fish there is safety in numbers and I found that mine just move sooo much more freely around the pond when there's more of them. There again its just so much more pleasurable to watch schooling fish in a larger space, how they all move together. You might get a couple of small goldfish and then find them a new home in someone'spond or something after a year or so. But even so, you want to be thinking BIGGER space. Suggestion: maybe instead of tank you might think more in terms of indoor pond? I have mine in a 100 gal. indoor pond over the winter and its just SOOO neat to have. Plus very easy to take care of - using a charcoal filter and doing partial water changes maybe 1x a month.