Another "baby fish" observation....

[Mmathis]

With my pond "down for repairs/renovation," all of the fry are growing out in a 50 gal tote. Well, not all of them. When I emptied the pond, I rescued all of the fry that were still in the pond. Anything that looked like a Shununkin went inside, and everything else went in a kiddie pool that I am using to temp. house all of the pond plants (marginals & submerged, duck weed, and water hyacinth).

I also added as many taddies as I could, since it wasn't their fault that I drained the pond Sentimental, me, LOL!

I placed one large air stone in the kiddie pool, which 'cause I didn't do a good job leveling it, has a shallow side and a deeper side. I have various sized rocks in there to support the plants and to keep the shallow ones out of deeper water. I'll add water periodically, and will throw in a pinch or 2 of food maybe once a week. But for the most part, I leave it alone.

The taddies grow up & leave [and I add more as I find them around in various containers] and the plants are flourishing, but I haven't seen the first fish, so assumed they didn't survive.....

Until yesterday, when I was doing some plant-thinning. Not only are the babies still there, but they are growing and are every bit as big as the ones that I "hand-raised!" And amazingly, they are quite tame -- they came right up to me while I was fiddling with the plants and I was almost able to catch a few by hand. There are at least 3 or 4 -- it was hard to tell: a couple that are that white-ish orange mottled color they get when they are changing from their dark color; one is dark; and one appears to be a Shubie!

Isn't it wonderful what nature can do? I slave over 20 or so fry, monitoring water, changing water, stressing over and questioning every move I make trying keep them alive and healthy. I toss a handful of fry in a kiddie pool, forget about them and they not only survive, but THRIVE!

 

[JohnHuff]

To them you are a Goddess. Maybe they have a religion of some sort and you are the giant being that makes it happen!

 

[ZmanArt007]

To them you are a Goddess. Maybe they have a religion of some sort and you are the giant being that makes it happen!

All hail the great Mmathis!

Haha that's great, the first time my fish ever spawned, I tried keeping the fry in an indoor aquarium. The eggs hatched find indoors but as I tried to keep the translucent little babies alive, things would just go wrong. I think I lost the majority of the fry I kept indoors, but still ended up with 20 or so little swimmers in the big pond, who grew faster and healthier than any of my tankers. Eventually I just dumped the aquarium into the pond to let the living fry have a fighting chance and to let the existing fry feast upon the carcasses of their fallen brothers. Clearly sometimes nature knows best.

 

[JohnHuff]

Yes, when I first had fry in the indoor aquarium, I babied them. Anything from their own fry tank to crushed food, but they still died. Later, I just let nature take its course and they lived.

 

[Nepen]

That's so cool.

I know when I have guppy babies in my tank, they stay small for a long time but the one that's outside (same age) got big and grow tails/colors in a month while the one inside still look just like baby. There are probably lots of little insects for them to eat in the wild more than in the tank.

I put 2 babies in my tank but I can only find one now. I really like babies but then my pond is small so I can't have many babies

 

[Mmathis]

To them you are a Goddess. Maybe they have a religion of some sort and you are the giant being that makes it happen!

LOL, John! Well, at least my fish recognize my greatness!


I was doing some reading about "mud ponds" and how they [for various reasons] are so beneficial in growing out pond fish. Well, this doesn't qualify as a "mud pond," but that's what it made me think of. Yes, Mother Nature does know best.

And I did notice that once I moved the indoor babies to the outdoor tote, they have grown a lot more and the Shubies have really colored up! In the tote they get a little bit of direct sunshine and a few hours of indirect [sun shade]. The babies in the kiddie pool, however probably never see the sun due to all the plants in there, but the pool does get a couple hours of direct sun in the mornings.

The "tote" babies have filtration, water changes, aeration, regular feedings and a "goddess" fussing over them all the time. The "pool" babies have aeration, plants, and whatever food happens their way -- they also have to compete with the tadpoles. Go figure!

 

[Fishylove]

I have babies too. I think they are all mixes of shubbies, GF, comets and I'm pretty sure I saw my fancy tail ryunkin try his best to get into the action. But no koi ?! Is it odd that I've never seen my koi spawn? This is my first year for babies because i usually keep the male and female separated. But because I had a feeling the winter was going to be bad, I put them all together for the winter in the big pond. Good thing I did, they wouldn't have survived the winter in the small pond, it's only 2 ft at its deepest point. Anywho, IS it odd that that my koi haven't spawned? Even if the koi were all males, wouldn't they try the spawn with the GF females? As far as I have observed, they have had no interest in it. Any thoughts?

 

[Tula]

If your koi spawn with another fish type ( ex: comets, shubbies) they will appear as a hybrid....with an olive coloring....or at least mine did. They had beautiful flowing fins, but were difficult to see in liner pond because of their color.

 

[Troutredds]

Our trout spawned in March for the first time and I was sure the eggs rotted in the nest (redd) the female dug in the gravel. I also thought the males we have were too young to be sexually mature. I was quite mistaken on both counts. The picture below shows one of four trout fry I discovered in May. At the time, they were two inches long. Yesterday I spied one almost twice that size. You never can rule out the intangible will of Mother Nature.

 

[Imatation Crab]

I just found some rosy red minnow fry today in my pond.

 

[Fishylove]

We had some rosey fry last year, but haven't seen any this year, yet anyway lol. The other minnows spawned and I see several of those fry. I like the little roseys, they are fun to watch

 

[Fishylove]

I moved the babies I could catch to the small pond but there are two on the big pond that seem to be doing great. I'm going to leave them in there and see what happens.

This is the only one I could get close enough to get a picture of. He has a piece of a floating pellet in his mouth