My first baby fish in bucket by accident.

[Madbloke]

Hi all
Ok I'll start by explaining what happened.
I built my first pond (small 600lts) about 18 months ago.
I've had my ups and downs but my little pond is really healthy and this summer (UK London) the fish started mating and one fish was being hassled (in a romantic way lol) by two males (all goldfish)
I observed and read up on this forum and found all the answer I ever needed, Thanks by the way.
The female then did her bit and the males did there bit, I just left them to it but I noticed that one of the big fish, we call her "big fat sue" cos she eats everything, including the eggs. So we thought that was the end of that.
But here's the amazing part, the pond had imo to much oxygenating plants so I used a net and took some out and put in a big sized bucket I had laying around in garden that only had rain water in, I then noticed about 2 weeks later one baby fry swimming around.
I pritty much have left it to its own devises for 4 weeks as been away on holiday.
Now the baby fish is about 3cm and looks really healthy.
Sad I know but me and the Mrs are over the moon and so happy.

My question is at what stage do we put in into the main pond?
Tried to find the answer on net and forum but can't find a straight forward answer, any advice would be great.
Thanks for listening......

 

[Mmathis]

Congratulations! You're GRANDparents!

 

[sissy]

hey you are first time fish parents and think we have all been down that root an you never know there may be more to get excited over .Congrats on your new addition .That would depend on big fat sue ,joking aside as soon as she is big enough not to be eaten .Or if you can give it get away spots so other fish don' t have sushi .It really depends on how big your biggest fish is .

 

[j.w]

I just have goldfish too and I notice that after they get about an inch or so they seem pretty safe and they swim more freely out in the open w/ the other fish. If you have lots of hiding places that's even better for the little one.I've got some tiny ones in my pond that are only about 1/2" long and they seem to do fine but then they were born in there and had to hide to get to that size and if your little one isn't used to hiding then it might be instant sushi.

 

[CometKeith]

I think anywhere around 1/2 inch should be fine if he is just going back with goldfish. I have some small ones and even if a bigger fish looks at any of them they will zip away really fast. Coloration also has something to do with it. I have heard that goldfish recognize their young when the have some orange color. Also since almost half of my babies are black I think that helps them survive too. You will be doing the baby a favor by putting it back in the pond. They can find small organisms they eat there more easily unless you are really familiar with raising fry. Most fish farms keep their small fish in ponds that have high concentrations of algae so they grow faster.

 

[Madbloke]

Thanks for all your advice I really appreciate it
I have decided to put it in main pond tomorrow so will let you know how it goes....
Cheers all

 

[CometKeith]

Good luck! I had two babies a few years ago and was so worried about them..., now I have over 20 babies and am so worried about them..... for different reasons!

 

[Madbloke]

Good luck! I had two babies a few years ago and was so worried about them..., now I have over 20 babies and am so worried about them..... for different reasons!

Why are you worried for the 20 babies??

 

[addy1]

Why are you worried for the 20 babies??

over stocked pond! as they grow in size

 

[JoaniePA]

My pond now has multiple sizes of fish from mosquito larvae sized to nearly 10". I wish the big ones would eat more of the fry and eggs, but no go.. the little guys swim with the big guys, only they are much faster to get out of the way. I'll have to find a way to get rid of them soon. I have noticed a couple of really pretty shubunkin babies, though, so may keep those rather than give them to the fish store.

 

[CometKeith]

JoaniePA, I have a bunch of shubunkin babies too. Some of them have really neat coloration with orange heads and blue and black bodies. I attached a picture you can see some of them. Notice how many shadows there are? These are from the baby black comets also in the pond. I suspect most of them will be turning orange at some point!