New fish

[steve s]

Hello

This is my first post on the forum. I have been keen on keeping fish for a couple of years now. I built my pond a few years ago, it measures 6*8*3 (feet). I have 4 orf, 3 ghost koi, 4 small shubunkins, 3 goldfish and a Siberian sturgeon. These have all been with me for at least a year and some since the pond was built. Yesterday I introduced a koi and since then it has been continuously chased by the small shubunkin!!! It seem that they are just following it but now and again peck at its tail, as if bullying too me. The water quality is good, recently tested and has a good oxygen supply.

Is this normal? I dont want the koi to be damaged especially as it was more expensive than the shubunkins put together!

 

[addy1]

Usually when one fish chases another, the one being chased is a female full of eggs i.e. spawning. Not sure if koi and shubunkins cross breed.

Could be a territory issue. My tank ciclids had areas of the tank that belonged to each fish and they would fight for it. But pond fish not sure.

and welcome

 

[koidaddy]

Welcome aboard!:lol:

 

[steve s]

Thanks for the reply and welcome guys.

Yes territory could definately be a factor. Strange little fish chasing a bigger fish
My worry I guess is with the koi being a new introduction and therefore already experiencing stress, this cant help the poor thing..
Keep my eyes on them:twisted:

 

[addy1]

Thanks for the reply and welcome guys.

Yes territory could definately be a factor. Strange little fish chasing a bigger fish
My worry I guess is with the koi being a new introduction and therefore already experiencing stress, this cant help the poor thing..
Keep my eyes on them:twisted:

could you put some netting or something across one part of the pond and separate them for a while?

some of that plastic rabbit or chicken fencing?

 

[steve s]

Hmmm yes guess I could but when I say the shubunkin are small they are little finger size compared to the koi thats 10". Think I'll watch em for a couple of days let nature take its course and hopefully koi will stand up for itself. Failing that I might take your suggestion up.

I just wondered if this was normal really or if shubunkin are an aggressive fish?

 

[addy1]

Mine have not been, but I have just goldies and shubunkins and a large pond

 

[j.w]

steve s
Maybe you can put something in there to divert there attention away from the chasing. Like some watermelon rind(leave some of the good red fleshy stuff on too) to nibble on.........my fish love it and they put all their attention into it. Or try putting in some little floating balls....maybe they will chase those around for awhile instead of the poor new guy :lol:

 

[hammer1320]

I have the same problem. My smallest guy in the pond is the bully, I think he is a sarasa. I added a couple of koi to the pond yesterday and he has been in high speed chases with other random fish. He has been with me since last year and I never seen him act like this before. Maybe it is spawnning, but Im wondering where to draw the line and move him into the front pond with the other sarasas.

(I call it a him, but I have no clue of the sex) I dont know why I do that, it just acts like a him to me

 

[fishin4cars]

Very seldom do koi are goldfish/shubunkins/sarrasa's harm each other unless breeding and that can be minimal to severe. Chasing is somewhat common and if a new koi has been introduced and a small fish is chasing the biggest thing you want to watch for is tail or fin damage. The newer fish is already in a stressed state so the smaller fish may be attracted to slime coat being released along with Pheromones. This is a hormone that fish release, I'm learning more and more about these but for now I'll leave it at that. Anyway in most cases just monitor, If it gets to bad you may want to seperate one or the other (chaser or chasee) into a netting. It's best to leave them in the pond if possible and allow them to see each other but stop the chasing. One concern I would have is one of the koi jumping from being chased. If you you have a cover this is a good time to use it until all settles down.

 

[steve s]

Ok so I went to my pond yesterday after getting home from work and the new koi was nowhere to be found. I checked all folds in the liner around the side of the pond and around the ground of the pond itself... no fish. This leaves me with a couple of conclusions:

A: The fish has jumped out and a cat has had him/her. However I think it very unlikely that a 9" fish could jump out of my pond and its never happened before.

B: A bird has claimed it. However no other fish are missing and is seems so odd to me that that particular fish is the victim of an aireal assault and no others. ( In my 3 years of having a pond no fish have ever left me apart from going to fishy heaven of natural causes)

I feel well gutted about the whole scenario. Im thinking of removing the shubunkins and sahara comets so that in future they dont chase and stress out my koi. I know its only cheap for a koi but man I may as well flush £40 down the toilet!!!

 

[fishin4cars]

The thing is Steve, new Koi are known for it! I had a 16" High Quality Shiro Utsuri jump out twice on me in one day. Luckily I was there both times, new water, jittery, any chasing and they will jump, and they jump a pretty good distance. I found her a good 10-15 feet away from the pond the first time, second time she jumped out was under the deck and I could hear her flopping underneath it. I know you blame the sarrasa's and shubunkins but it can be another koi or just something that spooks it could do the same thing, instead of removing fish, I would find some type of cover or netting to protect your investment.

 

[steve s]

The only thing with the jumping theory is that I have looked around and cant find it!! Presumably it would be somewhere in the area and it aint.
I had trouble with the shubunkin and comets last year bullying other fish which led, I believe to a couple dying. For example 2 golden goldfish were chased to the point where they were scraped so bad that fungus set in and killed them. I tryed bathing them in salt etc but it was too late. I tried a couple of koi last year and had no luck with them I think ive become a little paranoid of having them, thinking that they will die. This incident just adds to that- a good kick in the b******s

 

[steve s]

Fishin 4 cars. I appreciate your guidance and yes will definately be creating some form of cover this weekend. I have found with nets in the past that they make the fish difficult to see. A double edged sword.

 

[j.w]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, I read in another post of yours that your wife does not like fish..................maybe she sold it? Just kidding, I think :regular_waving_emot
Fish are really good at hiding so it may turn up or you have some kind of predator that either caught it or found it if it jumped out.