Imposter in the pond!

[mrsclem]

Spring is here! I wish but the weather has warmed up and the pond ice is gone. With all the windy weather a lot of leaves blew into the ponds and got frozen in the ice so today was leaf removal before the next freeze. While scooping the bottom of the pond I scooped up on of the fry form last year. Hey- while I have him, lets give him a quick once over! Looks great except-- NO BARBELS! How could this be? I have had nothing but koi for 4-5 years and these fish were hand picked for an all gin-rin pond. Now I'm wondering how many more imposters there are . There were 6 form this spawn so thinking one of my adults has to be the problem or is it possible I have a rare barbel-less koi?

 

[Tula]

hmmmm......a pond mystery. How big are the fry?

 

[mrsclem]

6-10". Each fish in this pond were hand chosen as we were trying to build a pure gin-rin pond.

 

[j.w]

Very strange indeed

 

[Priscilla]

Interesting. I will follow this thread for the 'real' spring when you investigate more.

 

[Dave 54]

Believe it or not in our experiance , there are numerous mutations to mumber's of barbells , personally weve see everything from 2 bables going upwards to 7.
But in saying that and to the best of our exeriance have never seen a non barbelled koi before now.
However there are things to factor in Parasite/disease being the main two, tell me does this koi/imposter look like a normal koi side on with everything else being in their correct places , or is there that marked difference of goldfish to koi, lastly ask yourself this.... perhaps you have a half breed, a number of which weve had and kept before now ?
There lies your answer to this riddle we thinks ?

Dave

 

[mrsclem]

Dave- This koi looks normal in every way, no sign of disease or illness. I'm thinking it may be a mix but that means I have a hybrid in my pond. I always thought that goldfish-koi hybrids were sterile. I will have to check the others when it warms up more.

 

[sissy]

My koi did not have barbels until they were almost a year old .I brought my plants in the basement back at the end of November and the lotus plants somehow must have had hidden eggs in them .I happened to look in the stock tank this morning and they they were swimming around .Not sure how the eggs got in there unless by frogs .There were no fish in the lotus pond .

 

[Dave 54]

At 6" - 10" I'd have thought the barbels would have shown by now sissy mrschem as hybrids that makes them mules and they arent supposed to breed to the best of my knowledge.

Dave

 

[mrsclem]

That's what I thought Dave. I'm still puzzled as to how this happened. I was sure that every fish in the pond was koi. I now longer keep any goldfish. Maybe I've got a fancy looking goldfish pretending to be koi? These fish are also all Gin-rin, don't know if there is such a thing as a Gin-rin goldfish.

 

[pecan]

I have had mystery fish appear in my bog that has a small pond attached. I added no fish, didn't want fish and ended up with 10-15 baby comets that had to be re-homed.

My big pond in its second year ended up with 2 half Koi, half Comets when I only had comets in the pond, no Koi.

This has brought me to the conclusion that fish either fly or invented and frequently use teleporters.

 

[Priscilla]

Yes, I have a mystery fish in one of my ponds too. No clue how he got there, but he's there!

 

[j.w]

Bird legs I say, bird legs

 

[Dave 54]

Bird legs I say, bird legs

Sneaky neighbour cutting down on numbers by adding fish to peoples ponds , Hurricane, space aliens, act of god , who knows its a mystery you need to look into Priscilla .
Hey j.w, lets see you find jpegs for those ?


Dave

 

[Priscilla]

Sneaky neighbour cutting down on numbers by adding fish to peoples ponds , Hurricane, space aliens, act of god , who knows its a mystery you need to look into Priscilla .
Hey j.w, lets see you find jpegs for those ?


Dave

LOL!!!! Yes, I have no clue. He's dark grey or black, not very pretty, but he is good at keeping the numbers down in the small pond. He eats everything. He's not big enough to bother the other fish yet, but I think he eats the babies, which is horrible, but its fine because I would have thousands in there if not for him. And he sure loves a good tadpole.