Goldfish and Koi life span observation

[cas]

I happened to be going through some of my documents and this is what I found:

• Four comets bought in 2005
  • One lived 2 months
  • One lived 4 1/2 years
  • One lived 5 1/2 years
  • One is still alive at 12 years
• Two shubunkin bought in 2005
  • One lived 1/2 year
  • One is still alive at 12 years
• Three butterfly koi bought in 2004
  • Two lived 1 month
  • One lived 1/2 year
• Three sarassa bought in 2006
  • One lived just a couple of days
  • One lived 2 1/2 years
  • One is still alive at 11 years
• Three koi bought in 2006
  • One lived 3 years
  • One lived 8 1/2 years
  • One is still alive at 11 years

• Two koi bought in 2009
  • Both are still alive at 8 years.

• All goldfish born in the pond (and not caught to be given away) are still alive (well, except the one the heron got)
  • They are 10 years, 7 years and 1 year

I thought it was interesting that all the goldfish born in the pond (that I kept) are still alive.
Also interesting to me were the age ranges of the groups of fish bought together, and that the butterfly koi didn't do very well for me (none lasted a year).
I have no idea why I was being so analytical early this morning, but I thought I would share.

 

[Faebinder]

Koi dying so early is not normal. Either the koi is sick or the pond is unable to take them from size/filter issues.

Goldfish are a different game. Honestly I bought goldfish from many places... dandyorandas, buygoldfishonline, black water creek, raingarden, goldfishnet, Zhao fancies, coast gem USA, and even on ebay... the fish resilience is based on the breeder quality.

Temperature difference makes a huge factor from my observation. Fish from Florida coming to live in PA has a bigger chance to die in the first month even if it is not sick.

You're right that fish born in the pond live in the pond a long time. I presume if they couldn't they would have been eaten.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Very interesting.

Wish I was that good at documenting.

 

[Gemma]

I think fish born in the pond don't go through the stress of relocating, and are overall better kept from day one

My pond suffered 3 incidents (unintentionally my fault) where I lost fish, otherwise if a fish made it the first month after purchase, it is still in my pond, or it was re homed and could still be alive

 

[CometKeith]

Cas Interesting topic. Thanks for bringing it up.. I agree with your conclusions. If I would look to see which fish have done the best over the years in my pond I would definitely say the adult fish in the pond that were born in the pond are some of the healthiest whereas with store bought fish or fish that were given to me, only maybe 50% survived. This is probably because of the fact the fish born in the pond were the best suited to acclimate to the water temperatures, ph, and most resistant to any disease that might have been prevalent in the pond. I have about 40 goldfish that were born in my pond and some of the largest fish are part of this group. This year I must of have had hundreds of fry hiding in my hornwort and anacharis. I'm sure the 5 or 6 baby fish I'm seeing now were the best suited for my pond from that group.

 

[cas]

Fish from Florida coming to live in PA has a bigger chance to die in the first month even if it is not sick.

All the fish I bought were from local pond stores, but I don't know where they got them from. It would have been interesting to know that too.