:o HI I HAVE POND THAT HAD ABOUT 175 GOLDFISH IN IT THIS SPRING. THE NUMBERS OF FISH SEEM TO GET SMALLER AS A DID A ROUGH HEAD COUNT. I FOUND 5 DEAD OF NATURAL DEATH. BUT COULDNT FIGURE OUT IF BIRDS WERE GETTING AT SOME OF MY GOLDFISH...... YESTERDAY I SAW MARTEN RUN ACROSS MY DRIVE WAY AND HEAD FOR HIS DINNER AT MY POND. SON OF A B...... SURE ENOUGH I WENT DOWN TO POND AND HE IS SWIMMING AROUND TRYING TO EAT THE FISH SOME OF THE GOLDFISH ARE 10 INCHES IN LENGTH. I MISSING ONE THAT IS 10 INCHES LONG BECAUSE I ONLY HAD 3 THAT SIZE AND NOW HAVE ONLY 2. I TRAPPED IT IN A WEEPING TILE THAT RUNS TO THE POND AND SEALED IT OFF THEN BACK MY CAR EXHAUST PIPE INTO THAT PIPE AND WELLLLLLLLLL BYE BYE FISH EATER.......... ANYONE ELSE HAD PROBLEMS LIKE THIS TELL ME ABOUT IT. I LIVE IN NORTHERN ONTARIO CANADA AND IM PISSED.

GOLDFISH TODD grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Too bad you couldn't have baited and live trapped it and dumped it back into the woods. I always had a soft spot for martin's/fischers/ferrits/otters....even though I know they can be devistating on a fish pond!!! :huh:

I DID TRY TO LIVE TRAP IT. I SACRIFICED ONE OF MY SMALLER GOLDFISH FOR BAIT IN THE TRAP BECAUSE THAT WAS WHAT HE WANTED . BUT HE WENT RIGHT PAST TRAP AND INTO THE POND FOR LIVE ONES. YES I WISH I COULD HAVE LIVE TRAPPED HIM TO.

To smart for his own good!

I am upset that you killed the marten. I totally disagree with your having done that. He/she was just doing what was natural. I don't know how common they are where you live or if it's even legal but I wish you would have tried other methods.

You must have a huge pond with 175 goldfish. It's too bad that you, the pond, and the marten couldn't have made a compromise. I doubt he could have eaten more than a few goldfish a day.

I DONT LIKE KILLING ANIMALS EITHER. BUT PUT THE SHOES ON YOUR FEET ROBYN. IF A ANIMAL WAS KILLING OFF YOUR POND FISH UNTIL THERE WAS NO FISH LEFT IN IT YOU WOULD DO THE SAME. I TRYED TO LIVE TRAP HIM BUT HE WOULDNT GO FOR IT. IV SPENT 7 YEARS BRINGING UP THESE GOLDFISH AND IM DAMNED IF AM GOING TO LET A WILD ANIMAL KILL MY PETS ONE BY ONE TILL I HAVE NOTHING. I GAVE HIM A CHOICE TO GO INTO TRAP WHERE THERE WAS LOTS OF FOOD AND HE CHOSE HIS OWN DESTINY. YES I FEEL BAD ABOUT IT BUT I FEEL WORSE THAN IF HE CONTINUED TO KILL OFF MY FAMILIES PETS WHICH MY KIDS AND WIFE ARE ATTACHED TO ALSO.

You are wrong. I've had herons and raccoons kill my goldfish. I've had hawks and foxes kill my chickens. Yet, I did not retaliate against them as they were just doing what they were programmed to do. Instead, I tried to thwart them by redoing my chicken cages and netting my pond. I accept I will lose some pond fish to predators. I mourn their losses when I do but don't kill those responsible. Now, if a human harmed my animals, watch out! A neighbor repeatedly let his dogs loose to cause problems. Their mastiff almost ate my rabbits, emptied my pond, and made a huge mess swimming in my ponds. My mother demanded money which they gave me. The guy claimed we "made" him kill the dogs by having them put to sleep at the pound. AFTER he said that, the mastiff returned. If it were up to me, I would have taken the dog and found him a new secret home but my mother instead called the pound claiming she didn't know who he was. Calling back a few weeks later, they said they had no such dog so the owners got him back again. He is a really sweet dog, just makes a big mess so it's not his fault. Nor was it the marten's fault for eating to survive.

I agree with Robyn. You shouldn't have killed that critter but what's done is done. I know it made you mad but they don't understand that you may have built the pond, paid for the fish and tend the thing. They just see food.
When I first set up my pond and added my fish, I had a four legged visitor. I figured it was a racoon but hubby thought maybe a coyote. At first I thought that it got my brand new fish that was put in the pond a couple of days before. After searching in the pond we finally did see them. They were hiding like heck.
This is what I did to "retrain" the visitor: I pounded 4 bamboo sticks in the ground, then strung some electric fence wire and hooked up an electric fence charger that I had leftover from my horse days. After a few weeks I took the whole works down and haven't had any visitors so far. Now, some of you might think that this is mean but the way I see it, these critters are really smart (maybe smarter than me), once they get/got into the fence one time they wouldn't like the end result from the fence and learn a lesson. They have a survival instinct and that would tell them to stay the heck away b/c there is some sort of monster that they can't see and that's why I say retrain them. I have been shocked by the fence myself (more than once) and it does get your attention but does not physically damage. This is only to scare them off and NOT to cause them damage or kill them.
Again, please don't kill the next critter that gets into your pond. Try something else.. :(

WELL YOU ALL GOT YOU WANTED...... THE GOT OUT OF THE TUBING HE WAS HIDING IN WHEN I TRYED TO GAS HIM. HE IS STILL ALIVE AND CAME BACK YESTERDAY AS I WATCHED HIM AGAIN RUN ACROSS MY DRIVEWAY AND HEAD STRAIGHT FOR POND. I WENT TO POND AND HE ALREADY HAD MY BIGGEST 9 INCH GOLDFISH IN IN MOUTH DEVOURING IT. I SCREAMED AT IT AND IT RAN AWAY WITH IT IN ITS MOUTH. S.O.B. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT THIS. IT TOOK ME ABOUT 7 YEARS TO GET MY GOLDFISH STOCK TO 175 GOLFISH AND NOW I ONLY HAVE ABOUT 15 SMALL GOLFISH WHICH IM SURE HE WILL BE BACK AND EAT THOSE TO. DAMN DAMN DAMN I BAITED MY LIVE TRAP AGAIN BUT HE WANTS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. ALL I CAUGHT WAS A CHIPMUNK WHICH I LET GO. THE CHIPMUNK IS A FAMILY SORT OF PET WHICH THE KIDS AND I FEED BY HAND. ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS JOTHER THAN TAKE ALL GOLDFISH INSIDE. WHY HAVE A POND THEN?????

I MENT TO SAY THE MARTIN GOT OUT OF TUBING AND CAME BACK FOR MORE.

I don't understand. I thought he was dead. You mean you hadn't yet discarded or buried the body, and he came back to life? Are you sure it's the same one. I suggest contacting a local wildlife trapper that relocates nuisance wildlife. It sounds like you need a professional.

I think it's highly unlikely that a single marten would reduce your goldfish population from 175 to 15 goldfish. Perhaps other predators have gotten some too. Did you actually count the goldfish? Over 30 is hard to count. Over how long a time period did the goldfish numbers go down that much?

Have you considered fencing the pond either with a regular fence with small holes or an electric fence to deter predators like the marten?

You didn't say how big the pond was I don't think. I guess it's too big to put a net over it? What about a using a dog to chase off the marten or other predators? What about using noise, squirting water, etc.? There are things to try. If you've truly already lost most of your goldfish, you have time to think of a strategy that will protect the fish without necessarily harming the marten or other predators. You may want to bring in some goldfish inside until you figure out what to do.

As a courtesy to others, please refrain from using language that may bother some people. Also, please don't use all capital letters when typing. It's hard to read. I can tell you're frustrated, and although we may not all agree on everything, we all care about your pond and goldfish and want to come to some harmony. Thanks.

I'm at a slight loss here cause when I google, I only see little purple martins. But if this bird is a runner/wader type...how high are the edges of your pond? Though I have no experience with herons, they say a single wire edged around the pond that breaks their walking in can work. How deep is your pond? At 2ft. deep my fish have learned to stay away from the neighborhoood cats and those cats know when I'm outside so they've learned to stay away from me. :rolleyes:

A martin is like a weasel or mink. Fast effective preditor on land or in the water. Agile and worst of all, smart!

Once they discover a steady food supply they are darn near impossible to get rid of. I know if I were in Todd's position, watching the little monster run right up to my pond for a little fishing, I would feel like hastening the rascals demise myself. I would never be able to do it because I am such a weenie when it comes to killing anything, but it sure would be tempting!!

As for a solution, no idea. These things are far more lethal than a cat or raccoon because they feel at home in the water as well as land. I guess a fence or pond netting might work, but it is a lot of extra work and expense and he still might get around it. Afraid I have no answer for you, just wish you the best of luck!

SadieMay, you probably couldn't find it because it is spelled marten not martin.

I found this site on a rare subspecies of marten. Marten's are pretty rare most places where they exist so killing just one can have a large impact. If it's a lactating female, then her kits die as well is she dies.

http://www.newfoundlandmarten.com/page.php?pid=1

okay.....big DUH. :blink:

I would just leave a trap out constantly from now on. I used to have huge problems with shrews in Okinawa and caught about one a week in my house. Then you can do with em whatever you need to. I can't chastise because my mother used to drown the shrews, but I am Buddhist. :o I have found that peanut butter works great for most things as it is pretty strong in the smell department and lasts a long time.