I moved into a home with a pond a year and a half ago which has about 18-20 small fish. The previous owners said they were "mosquito fish." I think they even used the word gambusia. Yesterday I cleaned sludge out of the pond and I got a closer look at them. My partner said, "that one is not the same as the others; it must be a baby koi."

So I looked at i'net info on gambusia, and I don't think what I have is gambusia at all. So what do I have???

The largest one is less than two inches long and has a black spot on its neck. They are all a bright orange color. They are all over the pond, top, bottom and they are quick. I could only catch them when the water became shallow.

any ideas?
Tim Page

They may be young koi or goldfish or rosy red minnows. If you don't have adult koi or goldfish around, they're probably minnows. It also depends on where you live. My answers are for those in the US. Here are my pages on the fish in question:

Mosquito fish (aka gambusia) = http://www.fishpondinfo.com/mosq.htm
Rosy red minnows = http://www.fishpondinfo.com/rosies.htm
Goldfish = http://www.fishpondinfo.com/gfish.htm