Identification please, babies

[richyd]

Was preparing my pond for winter today, pruning stuff, cleaning filters etc etc when i noticed some water movement around a well covered area of the pond, upon further examination I found roughly 20-30 of these little guys. They are taking nibbles from the pellets and keeping well away from all the other fish. I was just wondering what kind are they, or is it too early to tell. Managed to scope a couple out which I later returned

My stock at the moment
3 ghost koi
6 shubunkins
4 Orfe
4 Blue Orfe
5 sarasa comets
6 standard goldfish

 

[HARO]

Goldfish!
John

 

[Dave 54]

I tend to agree John even when small koi look different

rgrds

Dave

 

[JohnHuff]

I third that.

 

[HARO]

:highfive:
John

I heard on previous discussions that people want short answers! :biggrin:

 

[JohnHuff]

Yup.
Dr. Sir John

 

[richyd]

Thanks for the info guys. Never had babies before so this is a first. Will they survive the winter?
Also spotted a few others, these are more white though. They are all very well hidden in one of my plants and they are taking nibbles at the wheat germ sticks.
I've read the pros and cons of keeping them in there. My plan is to cover this particular area with some kind of bubble wrap design as where they are hiding is pretty close to the surface, whilst all my other established fish have now started decending to the bottom of the pond for winter, so I don't want this area to freeze. Would this be a good cause of action?

Many thanks once again
Rich

 

[addy1]

My second winter of the pond, I had a ton of babies, small fry, tiny fry etc. If your big fish survive the winter the small fish will too. I only move fish out of our small deck pond, it is shallow, no insulation, with a bad winter it could become a block of ice.

 

[JohnHuff]

The ones who will survive will survive, just like in nature.

 

[Troutredds]

Koi have that mustache thingy; a "koi-stache". It's a technical piscatorial term...

 

[koiguy1969]

ABOUT THOSE "MUSTACHE THINGYS" THEY'E CALLED "BARBELS". but they can be quite hard to see on fish that are an inch or less.

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree the fish on the bottom definitely looks more like a goldfish than koi, but the one on the top is shaped more like a mosquito fish. Maybe it's the curved container it's in, changing his/her shape. I would like to see the other babies that have white on them. Likely also goldfish - Comets. Goldfish tend to breed very young, the second year if they are in a large pond.
In answer to your question as to whether bubble wrap over the shallow area will keep that from freezing, the answer is probably no, unless you have very mild winters and little or no ice forming on your pond. If you allow the baby fish to swim freely (i.e don't keep them in the shallow area by some type of netting), they will figure out to move to the deeper part of your pond, along with the big fish.
Good luck!