Fish Burrowing

Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
229
Reaction score
114
Location
Graz, Austria
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
Austria
Hi,

As the temperature goes up the fish have started to become more active... which is nice to see :)

But one thing i've noticed is that they are going crazy trying to burrow inbetween the rocks at the edge of the pond, especially where roots are growing out from underneath the stones. It's normal to see a group of 10+ fish fighting to get inbetween the stones.

They've even managed to get themselves stuck in some on the crevices by burrowing in so far that the head gets trapped. Luckily i've been able to free them.

Does anyone have any idea what this behavious means? Is it related to spawning?

cheers,

Andy.
 
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
3,307
Reaction score
7,267
Location
Rhode Island, USA
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
Sounds like they are trying to get at the tasty roots, when there is food then having more show is normal
 
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Messages
3,307
Reaction score
7,267
Location
Rhode Island, USA
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6a
Country
United States
So it's just a feeding thing? Roots are that Tasty? Poor plants.
I would say yes, just a feeding thing. Koi love roots. This is why many koi owners have no plants in the ponds. Butterfly koi are a bit better with plants then standard koi, at least from what I read. I have butterfly Koi and they for the most part leave my plants alone.
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
7,257
Reaction score
4,819
Location
near Effingham, Illinois
Hardiness Zone
5b
What is your water temperature, and are your plants growing yet? If the water temp is above 50, you might want to offer your fish some cold water food, and see how hungry they really are. Of course, that probably won't keep them from going after the tasty roots, since those seem to be a delicacy to some fish. I also have koi, both standard and butterfly, and have never had them mess with my lilies or any other plants in the pond. Even have creeping jenny on the edge, and they seem to just nibble on that. Must not be too tasty, I guess.
 

Meyer Jordan

Tadpole
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
Messages
7,177
Reaction score
5,674
Location
Pensacola, Florida
Hardiness Zone
9a
Country
United States
Feeding response, but they are not going after the plant roots but what is growing on these roots.....many micro-organisms that are difficult to see with the naked eye, but are easily detected by fish. The destroyed plant roots are just collateral damage. I have seen Koi 'team up' to move fairly large rock just to get at what was behind it.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
229
Reaction score
114
Location
Graz, Austria
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
Austria
What is your water temperature, and are your plants growing yet? If the water temp is above 50, you might want to offer your fish some cold water food, and see how hungry they really are. Of course, that probably won't keep them from going after the tasty roots, since those seem to be a delicacy to some fish. I also have koi, both standard and butterfly, and have never had them mess with my lilies or any other plants in the pond. Even have creeping jenny on the edge, and they seem to just nibble on that. Must not be too tasty, I guess.

The water temp is about 15C. Everything is growing like crazy. The fish are eating well, and are also eatingthe algae growing in the pond, plus i noticed yesterday that i have Tadpoles, so it seems the frogs/toads have also been busy.

All in all a very active time :)
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
229
Reaction score
114
Location
Graz, Austria
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
Austria
Feeding response, but they are not going after the plant roots but what is growing on these roots.....many micro-organisms that are difficult to see with the naked eye, but are easily detected by fish. The destroyed plant roots are just collateral damage. I have seen Koi 'team up' to move fairly large rock just to get at what was behind it.

Interesting. I hadn't thought about that. I'd assumed it was the roots themselves.

The Koi have definately been moving stuff around.
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
229
Reaction score
114
Location
Graz, Austria
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
Austria
@Andy41 Does it look like they are tying to eat?

It sounds more like spawning behavior to me.

It looks like they're trying to get *at* something. They're all grouped around a particular spot trying like crazy to get behind/between stones, mainly where roots are growing out.

They're also chasing the females all over the pond... that's spawning behaviour. :)
 
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
7,257
Reaction score
4,819
Location
near Effingham, Illinois
Hardiness Zone
5b
Well, if you have tadpoles, maybe those are hiding in that particular spot, and the koi have them cornered and want to be the first to get a mouthful when they try to escape. Just a thought. ;)
 
Joined
Aug 2, 2013
Messages
3,211
Reaction score
2,192
Location
North East Ohio-Zone 5
Country
United States
It looks like they're trying to get *at* something. They're all grouped around a particular spot trying like crazy to get behind/between stones, mainly where roots are growing out.

They're also chasing the females all over the pond... that's spawning behaviour. :)

During mating season (spring time) I will sometimes see my goldfish on the shelf area where the planted pots are chasing each other and kinda running into the pots. Otherwise I don't really see them in that area much and if I do it will be one or two fish swimming around the pots but not chasing each other.

You have Koi, right? I have a feeling they are much more aggressive eaters than the goldfish. Reminds me of when I was a kid. We used to go camping and stop at the spillway in Linesville PA. "where the ducks walk on the fish" :LOL: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1115 People would buy bread and throw the entire loaf in for the fish. It would be gone in minutes and the fish would be running over top of each other to get it. It was amazing to watch :)
 
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
229
Reaction score
114
Location
Graz, Austria
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
8a
Country
Austria
During mating season (spring time) I will sometimes see my goldfish on the shelf area where the planted pots are chasing each other and kinda running into the pots. Otherwise I don't really see them in that area much and if I do it will be one or two fish swimming around the pots but not chasing each other.

You have Koi, right? I have a feeling they are much more aggressive eaters than the goldfish. Reminds me of when I was a kid. We used to go camping and stop at the spillway in Linesville PA. "where the ducks walk on the fish" :LOL: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/1115 People would buy bread and throw the entire loaf in for the fish. It would be gone in minutes and the fish would be running over top of each other to get it. It was amazing to watch :)

I've got a mix. I started out with Goldfish, and then mixed Koi in with them. At the moment there's 8 Koi and around 100 goldfish, but i'm going to get rid of about 50 of them this year. 100 is too many, even if they do look good swimming together.

The Koi eat anything and everything. My profile pic is of the biggest Koi i have, Bill, and i think he's incapable of closing his mouth. He's like a vacuum cleaner.

:)
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Forum statistics

Threads
30,782
Messages
508,590
Members
13,043
Latest member
cisifom

Latest Threads

Top