Inside Plant Pond progress:-)

[capewind]

I dont know how the heck he sees them so small. Even in the bowl, I took the pics of the little guys so I could enlarge the pictures to make out what they are LOL. The footprint of the main pond is about 11 x 18, and maybe 60% covered in plants, and he can just glance down and say hey, I saw a baby...

 

[Big Lou]

Very nice and tidy. Seems it will be a nice place to sit beside during the winter.

 

[CountryEscape]

Cape, I see at least 3 if not 4 koi babies in that larger group. Guess you're aware of that though, right? In my pond, the goldfish looked like goldfish from the start. In other words, solid white, solid black, orange/white, or orange/black/white. The ones that are more silver looking in the larger group are all koi babies, I'm guessing. I see whiskers on at least 2 of them, but the ones with whiskers will let you know the others that are colored similarly are also koi, IMO. Woohoo!!!

 

[sissy]

I see whiskers on at least 7 of them even though they are a little blurry .I have a 24 inch monitor so pic is even bigger for me .

 

[capewind]

CE, I know what all the bigger babies are They are 10 koi, 2 Shubunkins, and 1 comet Been watching these kids since they were the size of the tiny ones hubby got yesterday. All but the 2 shubbys and 1 comet have their little barbels

Our comets are just the boring reddish orange ones (except 2). ALL of their babies so far have started out blah brown, with gold sides. I added a pic of a little stinker we got out of the main pond a month or so ago to show the color. They stay this color until they are in the 2-3" size range, and then most of them go either reddish orange with no markings, or near black with a bit of gold edging on their fins.

I am definitely not an expert on telling which are which breeds, but what I have learned so far...

1. Shubunkin fry have HUGE eyes, almost like a fly. Just out of proportion to the rest of them, and while tiny, their faces are a bit flatter/more rounded than that of koi or comets.

2. My comet babies, I can tell by their 14 carat gold coloring on their sides.

My eye site is not good enough to see the hints of nubs/barbels on the koi when they are tiny... I cant see them til the fish to get to be closer to an inch in size. In this tiny size range I have to look for the comet gold, or wait til they get a bit bigger.

I clearly have too much time on my hands, as I really am having a lot of fun trying to figure out what breeds babies are, or watching the colors come in.

 

[sissy]

I know i have babies but have not seen them in several days and I think 2 of them I saw were little butt wigglers by there shape and the short length and fat bellies .Can't catch them though maybe I need you hubby capewind .I saw them when I was feedng the bigger fish and then they were gone .I think they hide under the waterfall .

 

[CountryEscape]

Whew, I was hoping we were not shocking you with the koi babies! Glad you are on top of things.
I have my first koi babies, thought they looked different (in the pond) than any of the goldfish/Shubunkins/Comets I had from last year. Then one day about a month ago, I was netting some of the more curious goldfish, and caught one of the babies and sure enough, whiskers! So, I have 4 that I'm sure are koi babies. They are similar, but each is different and I can tell which is which. Been really fun watching them grow. They are probably 3" or so now. Not a very good judge of size.
I cannot imagine seeing those teeny tiny fry, though. What in the world does your hubby catch them with? Must be a small aquarium net of some sort for them not to slip through.
That is really exciting to watch the colors emerge. I have all really pretty colors in my goldfish pond. By the time I notice the babies, they are black, turning to orange/red, or they are white. I have a tiny baby that I'm watching now that is all white, but with some red and black tiny spots on it's tail and body and nose. About 98% white, though. Wish I had the time to get in there and net him, just to take a pic, but then as some say, then it would be a "favorite" and it would die or get eaten! So, I will leave it in peace to grow up and watch for it in the spring again.
Oh, my, Sissy, you may be my hero and have baby butt wigglers!!! Keep us posted on that. I sure want to know that they can reproduce in a pond. I think I have about 12 of them different sizes so hoping someday to get baby butt wigglers.

 

[capewind]

I want him to look to see what else he can catch, but it is overcast and windy out there... Not to mention he is in the basement wiring/drilling holes in the house (to properly wire the outside ponds) and get the lights set up for the plants downstairs... for now, he is putting up my 2 shoplights/4, 48" growlux bulbs, and 4, 65 watt grow bulbs... will see if the plants like that, or need more...

He really does drive me crazy with how fast he can spot the babies outside... My vision isnt that bad (20/30), and tried correcting to 20/20 (no patience for contacts or glasses), and while there was a big difference, I cant imagine having his 20/15.

 

[CountryEscape]

The only time I spotted really small babies was when I was sticking my arm into the edge of the pond pinching off dead lily leaves. The babies would be swimming around the plants. I would push the floating leaves to the side and just stare. They would come in and out of my vision, and I would just smile, happy to have spotted them so early! Never thought of trying to catch them. In my pond, survival of the fittest, and then I'm still going to be overcrowded sooner or later.

 

[sissy]

My butt wigglers are 8 years old so not sure if this is the first time They had babies as i'm sure the bigger fish eat them .I think the babies go under that waterfall because the bigger fish don't seem to like all the dark under there because the liner hangs down into the water and gives a nice corner for them to hide

The waterfall I think they hide under

 

[capewind]

When we had the smaller pond, the babies always got eaten:-( Even tho we have plenty of room now, and will be adding to it, a. I dont want to be overcrowded again, and b. hubby really REALLY wants nothing but koi in the main pond... So we will raise out whatever babies we catch. Most of the comets will be given away... I want more Shubunkins (for variety) and again, give away the excess...

I took a pic of the baby nets. I am guessing the old pool net is about 20" or so (the tote is 24")... then he uses the green 4" net to scoop them out of the big net... I then use the tiny white net to get them out of the bowl of water LOL.

 

[CountryEscape]

Wow, you have quite a system going on there, Cape!
I was just outside, the wind is ferocious, but I was watching my baby that I so adorable (not the white one, although spotted it several time, too) and noticed it would get in areas I thought I might be able to get a good pic. This is NOT what I call a good pic, but you can definitely see what I mean about the black tail and dorsal fins. They will turn all red/orange by next summer, I know, but it's been like this for a while and is a real eye catcher. Too bad they don't stay like this.

And, I've noticed that even though I used to have a Shubunkin (tri color) when I started out, she lost all of her black. I got what I call a "blue" Shubunkin from Pond Kid back in March. I also have a blue tri colored fantail, and 2 more Shubunkins I got at Wal-Mart that are all holding their color. So, I'm wondering if the blue background instead of white helps them hold the black. Cape, do you have all 3 colors that stay put more than a year on your babies, or is it too early to tell? If I can find some more blue Shubies I'll buy them. They really stand out in the crowd of all the red and white that I have going on in my goldfish pond. If you look closely on this photo (also taken today in the wind, so apologize for the "waves"), you will see several fish with red eyes. Those are from Pond Kid, too. I like that feature, and have noticed a couple of babies from this year have that trait. Also, on the right edge is a red and white fantail that I've noticed just lately has black streaks in his/her tail, which thrills me!

Here's a pic of 4 of the fish from Pond Kid, with the "blue" Shubunkin pictured. I know I have better pics of him/her in the pond, but this is best I can find at the moment. I'm just wondering if anyone has experience with keeping all 3 colors on baby Shubunkins past the first year, or if the blue is important at all. I like the way it looks, so it gets to stay no matter what. LOL

 

[capewind]

Hubby gets all the credit. I was sitting out there for hours on end, just with the little green net... Safe to say I wasnt all that effective LOL.



My comet babies do this as they are changing colors, but it only stays a few weeks before going all orange... I am so jealous that you get so long! LOL

>

Just this morning I deleted a bunch of Shubby pics off the camera (got the card out of memory prompt). Not the best pics, but will post those left to show you the colors of our adults.

 

[capewind]

Update pic of the plant pond. Hubby got the two shop lights up and wired. So that's four, 40 watt bulbs to start. Now he is mounting 4 of those normal basement type light fixtures onto a 2"x6"x8' board... Bought four growlux 65 watt bulbs at the hardware store. Will see how those do... Will likely need more.

 

[capewind]

Lights are done (unless we need more)... He has the old heater from the 180 gallon fish tank in there too. Not sure it will be big enough. It has taken it almost 3 hours to go from 54 to 60. Maybe it will be okay. Lots of heat coming off those round bulbs... if not, have another heater, but it runs on 220v... Still need to build a skippy type filter. Really hoping the water hyacinths didnt take too much shock before we moved them. Any one have any idea what the BEST temp would be to maintain the plants at?