Hi. I'm new to the Forum so bear with me. We have a 6000 ltr garden pond, over 3 levels. 15 goldfish (including shubunkin and parrot) and 3 bottom feeders are our original stock of fish. Don't think they spawned the first year but last year they spawned about 5 times that we saw. So we now have an abundance of last years babies plus tiny fry from this year's multiple spawnings. We need to get rid of a good amount, if not all, or we will be overstocked. Loads of people lining up for them but they all seem to be bottom feeders and we've only been able to catch half a dozen or so of the plethora of babies that are in the pond. Any suggestions please for the best way to catch them? Can't catch them by putting feed out as they're bottom feeders. Should we leave them until they're older and bigger? As they get bigger will they start to come to the surface to feed (we think they may be the offspring of mixed marriages). They are virtually all brown speckled with silver underbellies. The three original bottom feeders were dark brown all over. I look forward to any advice you can give. Maybe a special kind of net? Thanks.
Catching baby fish
- Thread starter Canda
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The only way I've been successful in removing all offspring from my pond, is by lowering the water level. I set up a tub with pond water and an aerator before hand and also cover it, as they'll jump.
Welcome @Canda ! I think @Tula hit the nail on the head. I've managed to catch a few of our babies over the years, but that required extreme patience and luck. If I were going to try to catch multiples, I'd get the water level down to give myself an advantage!
We hope you'll stick around! Post some pictures of your pond and tell us more about yourself - we love to talk all things pond!
We hope you'll stick around! Post some pictures of your pond and tell us more about yourself - we love to talk all things pond!
Thanks @Tula . I was hoping to avoid that lol. Oh well, we can't always have what we want :-D
Thanks @Lisak1 . It does seem like we may have to go down that route. I have no idea how to put photos on I'm afraid.
Are your bottom feeders catfish? Or perhaps a sucker fish like plecostomus? If so, you can easily trap them in a baited minnow trap. You will also catch some goldfish but they are easily sorted out.
Stephen
Stephen
Thank you for your reply. To be honest I have no idea what they are. I'm sure we were told, when we bought them, that they were a variety of goldfish. The originals are now about 3" long, thin bodied and now mid brown in colour although they started off almost black. Definitely not plecostomus.
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We have the same issue every spring with a new "crop" of young ones. Because we're on a well we don't have the luxury of lowering the water level as every 1" of surface in our pond is the equivalent of 320 gallons. We do the same as Stephen and use a minnow trap baited with dog food. During the pollen surge they can't see as well and the catches are better than after the water clears. We'll let the trap "soak" a couple of days then retrieve it and sort out the keepers from the others then leave the trap out for a short period. When they've forgotten about that "evil" trap we reset it in a different area and catch three or four more. It's a summer long project, but doesn't hurt anyone and the detainees are transported to their new home. The inlet of the trap limits the size of fish that can access it, so we start sooner rather than later gathering up the new ones.
sissy
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found luck with window screening throw food in it and they swim in and you pull the screening up with them in it .I don't feed often so they are hungry