Since I found the inch-long fish in my pond, I have been very careful while doing things in the pond... I have begun spending LOTS OF TIME just staring/squinting into the pond looking for them. I have found their hang out and there seems to be quite a few of them. I have noticed that the one-inchers have a slight orange stripe down their sides. I have also noticed many 1/4 to 1/2 inchers - they are almost translucent and seem to be all eyes! Esmerelda laid eggs about two months ago... could these teeny fish be them?

I have stopped worring about the algae (gasp!) since the small fish use it for cover. Instead, I worry about the bullfrogs, snake, filter & leaf basket, and every possible thing that could be bad for these little fish.

Do baby fish survive in a big pond? On the other hand, if some do survive, and Esmerelda keeps on this way, could I end up with too many??? (see, I worry regardless of the outcome!)

Who has a good baby fish story for me?

thanks for listening,
Lori

The ones that are 1/4" long may well be from Esmerelda's spawn.
The 1/2" ones ... some grow faster than others! With a lot of algae there's plenty to eat.

The only time babies survived in my pond is when I had a huge algae bloom that lasted for months... about five years ago.
Since the water has been clear there have been no new little ones. Except for when I harvested some eggs during a pond clean two years ago.
I put the eggs in a 20 gallon tub and kept three of the best fry once they hatched.
They were slow to grow in size when I had them in the aquarium.
Those three are currently back in the pond (for one year now) and getting big! :)

The pond population will control itself ... that's if you are worried about overcrowding.

PG

Hi Lori! It kind of goes like this: When you first start getting eggs and babies it is so exciting and you will do anything and everything to save them ALL! You worry like you laid the eggs yourself. You might bring as many into the house for the winter to save them and grow them bigger, in hopes you can put them back in the pond when they are big and strong. You are one proud fishy parent at this point! After a year, you soon learn that you can't possbily save them all...that's why the fish lay so many. After a year, you are sick of all these darn babies! You start to hope that the other fish (in my case ducks) will eat them. Pretty soon it's like S#@! MORE BABIES! I am too the point now that the babies are a huge pain in the butt. I think we should hire Don the scientist to invent fishy birthcontrol! ;) :lol: :P

I love baby goldfish.Last year was the first year for me.It was in the fall when I started bringing the koi and goldfish in for the winter.I was pleased that I caught all the koi and then the large goldfish.Then I was able to catch the smaller goldfish and I thought my job was done.I started noticing more movement in the pond.I didn't realize that I had babies in there.I was so happy and spent days getting them out of the pond with a butterfly net.What a sight and I was willing to get in if I had to.I ended up getting 15 babies out and I knew there was one more very small one in there.I drained the whole pond just to get him to safety for the winter.He was no bigger than my baby finger nail.I have had them in the fish tank for the winter and they are all getting bigger and ready to go back into the pond.I will always try to save them all.

swampy

New ponds tend to have more babies survive. Then, at some point there are enough fish that they basically eat all the eggs and fry. My fish probably lay 100,000 eggs every spring. I think one to five survive each year. I lose about that many adults or more so the population is pretty stable. KK is right. At first, you want to save as many babies as you can. Then, you eventually realize that you don't have the time or space for them. I don't do anything to try to find or save eggs or fry; nature takes care of it. I can't build more ponds so that's it.

I put some plants with eggs in plastic litter buckets one year (about five or six years ago) and raised up some fry. I moved them to my back pond once they were fish-like and then to the basement pond that first winter. They did really well.

This is exactly what it is like :D

The pond is having an algae-fest right now. I usually pull out algae with a rake while I wait for the barley to kick in but now my "maternal instincts" have taken over... The pond is a green mess! I spent over an hour this morning crouched with the camera poised just to get one photo of my grandfishys - I am too old to crouch that long :rolleyes:

Lori

Hi llgrennan

LOL
I know exactly what you mean

swampy

KK

Fishy birth control is known as Turtles and Bullfrogs!

By the way, my frog eggs that I collected hatched about 3 days after introduction to the pond and I now have many hundreds of 1/4 inch frog tadpoles feasting on the algae. The toads are still calling to one another, but now they are in the pond. I expect a batch of toad eggs soon.

Don

Do toads eat tadpoles?

Not unless tadpoles walk around on land.

don

as for fishy birth control, don't forget snakes!

I have a Garter Snake that hunts in the pond a couple of times a week. I have a toad (California Toad, I think) that spends his days in my filter. I have a large American Bullfrog, and several smaller ones. My daughter calls them "sissy frogs", 'cause they shriek if you startle them! I have about 60 Yellow-legged frogs (they love to dine on Honey Bees & Yellow Jackets). Last Summer I worried nightly that my 5 two-inch goldfish would become someone's dinner... They are now 5+ inches - so I worry about their offspring!!

Lori

I don't think there are turtles this far north??? Are there? Hhhmmm, guess I have to do a google research on this one! I do have two wonderful fake turtles I got today (pond floaters) You should have seen the fish inspecting them, it was too cute, I also got a froggy for them (fake too) As soon as I put them in all the fish were bumping them and checking them out, it was really sweet!

Swampy, you sound just like me out there trying to save every last little feller! I put my babies back into the pond this week. I can't say they looked too happy about it at all. They kind of swam in and then went into the weeds and acted dead! I was like oh @#*! But.....I did see a couple today so far and they were doing fine. I have released 11 so far and have had a visual of 4 which is good considering its 500,000 gallons of play land!

KK

Here's a site for you:

Reptiles of British Columbia

And, yes, the Western Painted Turtle is found in British Columbia as a native species. Red-Earred Sliders have also been introduced and exist in the wild.

By the way, you have lizards, too.

Don

Hi Don, thanks for the link! Yes, I know British Columbia has lizards cause we used to play with them growing up in the south of B.C. I don't think they are this far north though. We have tons of turtles back home too. The Province is very big and we are very far away from the lushness of the south. We are WAY up here!

From what I read last night I am pretty sure the only reptile that can survive up here is the garter snake! And yes.....I have those, LOL.