Do your fish learn bad habits from their friends? We have a koi named Gary and Gary has taught a large un-named mutant comet two bad habits. I say the comet is mutant because it has lost his white/orange coloring and it is now all cream colored.
One day I saw Gary's tail sticking well out of the water as he was vigorously attempting to root around in a waterlily pot. The pot was covered with river rock and Gary wasn't having much success getting into the soil but he was trying. I had not seen this behavior before. A day or so later I saw my mutant comet trying to do the same thing as his cousin....
I also have mosquito fish in the pond. Anyone who has mosquito fish know you don't have just a few..... Gary is a large koi and I guess he started getting hungry in the afternoon because I noticed that he would slide up to a gathering of mosquito fish and suddenly started sucking in water just like he does with the floating food I feed them. The mosquito fish frequently gather in little pockets near the rocks at the edge of the pond because the water there is warmer. I would see Gary attack these pods of mosquito fish several times a week as they gathered near the edges of the pond. Gary had been doing this behavior for several weeks and then I noticed Gary's cousin, the mutant comet had also started the same behavior. Gary still slides up these mosquito fish pods and does his slurping routine but I notice now that the mutant has since changed tactics, perhaps because it can't suck in as much water as Gary. The mutant now attacks from beneath in open water. There may be several mosquito fish on the surface in open water and the mutant will suddenly attack from below bursting onto the surface of the pond in order to get a snack.....
I have about 20 fish in the pond and so far Gary only seems to have one follower....
One day I saw Gary's tail sticking well out of the water as he was vigorously attempting to root around in a waterlily pot. The pot was covered with river rock and Gary wasn't having much success getting into the soil but he was trying. I had not seen this behavior before. A day or so later I saw my mutant comet trying to do the same thing as his cousin....
I also have mosquito fish in the pond. Anyone who has mosquito fish know you don't have just a few..... Gary is a large koi and I guess he started getting hungry in the afternoon because I noticed that he would slide up to a gathering of mosquito fish and suddenly started sucking in water just like he does with the floating food I feed them. The mosquito fish frequently gather in little pockets near the rocks at the edge of the pond because the water there is warmer. I would see Gary attack these pods of mosquito fish several times a week as they gathered near the edges of the pond. Gary had been doing this behavior for several weeks and then I noticed Gary's cousin, the mutant comet had also started the same behavior. Gary still slides up these mosquito fish pods and does his slurping routine but I notice now that the mutant has since changed tactics, perhaps because it can't suck in as much water as Gary. The mutant now attacks from beneath in open water. There may be several mosquito fish on the surface in open water and the mutant will suddenly attack from below bursting onto the surface of the pond in order to get a snack.....
I have about 20 fish in the pond and so far Gary only seems to have one follower....