@Bubbles
How deep were/are your ponds? The stock troughs are sort of built to withstand being knocked around by large animals. A cat wouldn't be able to do any damage to mine. It's a little deep for that and I don't have islands or land at the water level.
I've noticed that some of my underwater contraptions to support containers have enough of a lip on them that some of the birds can perch there if it gets a little low, but they are small birds and only getting a drink. A raccoon is big enough and enough of a rascal they could cause a lot of havoc, but I think havoc and messed up plants would be the worst of it. I doubt they could actually catch the fish. My stands tend to give the fish a lot of cover and hiding places. I can't see a raccoon being patient enough to actually catch a fish.
The fish are only 28 cents each at Wal-Mart. They are just plain feeder goldfish, nothing fancy. They really do keep those ponds from being completely infested with mosquito larvae. It's the smaller containers that I use as water pans or to catch roof run off that I have to watch for that. Too small to keep fish. The 50 gal water barrels have screened lids. Even if the larvae hatched in there, they'd be trapped as adults. In a way, my ponds are really just stagnant pools of standing water. No pumps or anything to circulate water. They get water bugs and the cheap goldfish thrive. Sometimes I have to skim off pond scum, but I've been surprised at how clear they stay with the plants and fish. I see the fish nibbling on the algae. The troughs have all been in use in the pasture around the barn at one time or another. They could be fitted up with a pump easily enough and I actually located the one with the Nymphaea reasonably close to a power pole with an outdoor outlet in case I decided to step up the game later. The raccoons would surely turn up then
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