Goldfish throwback to brown carp?

[Sarassagirl]

Hi. I have a question about goldfish breeding in my pond. I have a mix of sarassa comet and plain feeder goldfish that we put into our pond about 4 years ago, moving them from another pond we had. The pond is an 8 ft. stock tank, about 750 gal., set into the shaded patio 1 ft deep and camouflaged by landscaping blocks and Mexican tile. We also have a fountain and filter.

The problem is .. when we drained and cleaned the pond this year, after a 4 year break, we netted many fat goldfish of various colors and patterns, most approximately 8" long, no babies at all, and a HUGE plain gray carp, at least 1 ft. long! Is this a normal thing with goldfish, to revert to carp? Its shape is classic carp, elongated gray body, short fins, big head, very unlike the goldfish round, short shape. We don't closely watch our pond residents, and this was a total shock! He must be several years old!

We've had multiple generations of the sarassas in our ponds for at least 15 years, with only a couple of additions of feeder goldfish to replace heron attacks. Never had a goldfish that didn't turn color before. Anyone else have this happen? We're going to have to net him out and get rid of him, sadly; I don't want our fish to mate with it.
Thanks!

 

[MitchM]

I don't think that there's a general rule of goldfish breeding reverting back to basic carp, but the healthiest will survive, so be happy that you have healthy fish.

 

[bagsmom]

I wonder if it was something brought in by a heron. I've heard stories of the occasional egg getting relocated on a bird foot!

 

[CometKeith]

Hi and welcome! When I removed fish from my old pond I found a few unattractive drab olive colored goldfish at the bottom that I didn't know I had. I probably should have got rid of them but i was so surprised I threw them in the bucket of fish to be relocated. I have seen ponds that had goldfish for 30 or 40 years and most the fish were pretty drab color. That's their default color. It was a lot of work for breeders to come up with the brightly colored ones we see today because they were not the norm originally.

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Hey now, even the *ugly* fish need a home and someone to love them

 

[Lisak1]

We've had a few goldfish - born in the pond - that stayed that drab color for four or five years and then all of a sudden ORANGE! They literally change in a matter of days. No idea what inspires them, but it's cool to see. These however are NOT a foot long! That would be a fish of another, well, color!

 

[Tara]

I wonder if it was something brought in by a heron. I've heard stories of the occasional egg getting relocated on a bird foot!

Has this happened to you, I have a tiny fish in my pond, I know it was not purchased but there it is anyway, it's tiny and black.

 

[Lisak1]

@Tara we didn't have a baby fish show up in the pond, but we did find a dead bass one time which obviously got dropped by someone on a flyover!

 

[Tara]

@Tara we didn't have a baby fish show up in the pond, but we did find a dead bass one time which obviously got dropped by someone on a flyover!

. The one in my pond is a swimmer. I bought five fish, now I have six.

 

[Lisak1]

They smuggled someone in! And no signs of spawning at any time? Could have been eggs in the water, eggs on plants, eggs on bird legs - nature finds ways!