baby fish?

[Lillyspad]

I think my fish in my small pond are goldfish but they are black/bronzey color. Black moors maybe? They were given to me.
I have 8 of various sizes. I know some are adult.
do they give live birth to babies or lay eggs?

I have a baby fish about 3/4" long (tiny) in the upper pond that is separate from the lower pond.
I don't know where he came from. I'm thinking that my fish had babies and this one survived a trip thru the filter to the upper pond.

Question. Should I feed him something or will he be able to live on the algae in the pond.
I've seem him nibbling off the sides of the pond where algae is growing.
Another thought I had was that he came in on my water hyacinth I recently put there but i didn't think a baby fish would have survived the trip home without water.
advice is always appreciated.

 

[blessedfamily]

They lay eggs and it will survive eating the algae in the pond..I just took some of my water hyacinths after my fish spawned and placed them in a baby pool and now have some babies too. Good luck!

 

[ididntdoit99]

Eggs.... and either situation is possible, eggs could have been in the plants, or the egg or small fish could have went through the filter.

I leave my fry be, either they survive on thier own or they don't, keeps the population in control, I think I only have 2 that survived from last year.

 

[Waterbug]

I also had eggs hitch on ride on WH roots.

On the "black/bronzey color"...many goldfish start out bronze and later turn to white or red. Sometimes they do stay bronze. Some start orange and turn red or white.

 

[ntscott]

Interesting...I too have a new black/bronze little guy. I was wondering where he came from. I dont have any dark adults. I had no idea that they changed colors.

 

[addy1]

I have some neat long tailed gold bronze looking goldfish, they look great in the mix of the others.

 

[sissy]

All my babies started out black I just figured it was a defense against being eaten

 

[don't ask]

Sissy, I think you're on to something. most people I heard from say pretty much the same that the fry are dark in color and that color starts to develop when the fry get to about an inch or two long

 

[addy1]

some of my darkies are over 4 inches, guess they are just slow in developing, but they are pretty fish in their dark way.

 

[sissy]

I had one stay black until it was over 6 inches and bought it because it was black then one day he went incognito and showed up orange with a black dot .I knew it had to be him but he was trying to drive me crazy that's all

 

[j.w]

I have some of those large blk ones too about 6 -8" and wonder if they will someday change.

 

[addy1]

I like the mix of the dark fish with the other fish colors. Some of my shubunkins are real dark with red and blue coloring, but mainly almost black. Real pretty.

 

[pugle1]

I had to buy some goldfish... the minnows I bought blend into the background too well. The only time you see them is when they "breach" like a whale at feeding time...lol

 

[addy1]

lol like the breach like a whale! I have some rosey red minnows in my lotus tub, they show up pretty well, when they are not hiding, a nice peach color. Not sure if they would be hardyup north in the cold country.

 

[pugle1]

The browns are also called "common minnows" and are native to this area (Southern Ontario). I just purchased a bag of them at a local bait shop last summer to see what would happen with them in my pond.... I think they're happy as they've gotten much larger. You just can't see them until feeding time .... let the frenzy begin! That's why I put the gold fish in....so my grandson could have something to see....lol ( me too of course ). At least they get along with each other. I think I read that goldies, minnows, koi etc are all in the carp family.

As for the reds you mentioned addy1, I really don't know how they'd do here. I don't think I've ever seen one. I imagine they'd be fine as long as the water didn't freeze all the way down. This was my first winter with the fish, and by all accounts this was the mildest winter here in over 80 years, so in one of our typical hard winters, I really don't know if my pond is deep enough even for the brown minnows which again are a local variety and are quite hardy.