A million eggs Hellllp!!!!

[Gemma]

So up until today, separating the plants from the fish to limit the number of fry, has worked for me.
In almost 20yrs having ponds, I have never had to rehome more than 5 fry a year...I'm not sure what happened to change that, but my pond is full of eggs, all along the sides, on the steps, even in the plant pool and the koi don't show ANY interest in eating them

...what do I do to prevent an explosion of fry?

 

[Jhn]

Bluegill? I would say a channel catfish, but mine fails miserably at eating the little fish.

 

[j.w]

Caviar anyone?

 

[Gemma]

I once bought a beautiful yellow catfish..then I heard they grow huge and eat everything they can fit in their mouth, so I panicked and rehomed him

 

[Jhn]

I once bought a beautiful yellow catfish..then I heard they grow huge and eat everything they can fit in their mouth, so I panicked and rehomed him

My catfish is the largest fish in my pond well over 2’ long, doesn’t eat squat crap other than the pellet food, hence its name fat bastard.

 

[mrsclem]

Wait till they hatch and grow, drain pond and sell!

 

[Tula]

I'm surprised your koi aren't eating the eggs, mine gorge on them. Are the eggs fresh?

The only full proof way I know to remove fry is to empty the pond and get them out - ugh

 

[addy1]

Good luck!

 

[Gemma]

I'm surprised your koi aren't eating the eggs, mine gorge on them. Are the eggs fresh?

The only full proof way I know to remove fry is to empty the pond and get them out - ugh

Yes the eggs are fresh, I would've seen them when I fed the fish the day before, it's hard not to notice them with the water so clear
There is the hope that most if not all will not hatch...I'm praying that that's the case, cause draining the pond is nothing compare to finding home for a lot of babies

 

[poconojoe]

Stop feeding the fish. They will eat the eggs.

 

[cas]

Hope your fish get hungry for the eggs @Gemma . I use to never have a problem with baby fish surviving, but for some reason boat loads survive each year now. Nothing in the pond has changed. In fact, I would have thought since the fish are larger now, I wouldn't have a problem. I think it is natures way of laughing at us.

 

[Gemma]

Stop feeding the fish. They will eat the eggs.

Yes, that's the first thing I did

 

[Gemma]

Hope your fish get hungry for the eggs @Gemma . I use to never have a problem with baby fish surviving, but for some reason boat loads survive each year now. Nothing in the pond has changed. In fact, I would have thought since the fish are larger now, I wouldn't have a problem. I think it is natures way of laughing at us.

Thanks @cas
One thing that has changed for me over time, is that the fish grew a lot and can no longer get to things that fall in the cracks between stones

 

[Lisak1]

I don't know how helpful this would be for your pond, but we had a koi that released a bazillion eggs into a plant one time and I was able to lower the water in the pond enough that the eggs all dried out.

 

[Gemma]

I don't know how helpful this would be for your pond, but we had a koi that released a bazillion eggs into a plant one time and I was able to lower the water in the pond enough that the eggs all dried out.

Thanks, that is a good tip!...but in my case, if I lower the water to where most eggs are, it might starve the skimmer pump...the plant pool is also full of eggs, there is no way to lower the water there
I noticed many eggs are turning white, so there's still hope that most if not all, turn out to be no good. That could be why the fish won't eat them (?)