Silly fish goes into skimmer -- on purpose

[bettasngoldfish]

Beautiful fish Maggie

 

[Mmathis]

That's interesting how your fish changed colors. I have one that started out black then went to orange and is now solid white. I have quite a few black fish now and I'm always watching to see if they start to change color. I have an all red one now that started out back. I'm hoping some of the other ones turn red too.

I've had some comets go through changes like you describe [hard to keep tabs on the rascals when they do that!], but I didn't think the "calico's" and other multi-colored fish would change much, but they do, too. It's very interesting how they do that.... I have a little fantail that has been a dark mottled copper-color since I got it, and that was 3 years ago. Was certain it would have been a different color by now

And what's odd is that, in goldfish, black is supposed to be the least stable color -- meaning that most goldies [comets, commons, fantails??] with black on them will lose the black. But with Shubunkins, and apparently Watonai & Wakin, the black seems to become enhanced in some fish. I have a few Shubies that have more black than I recall [either that, or Hubby has been replacing fish without telling me.....].

 

[CometKeith]

Maggie. Here is a pic of some of my fish following me. There is an orange and black one close to the bottom left side that was all black until recently. It's actually changing really fast now because it was about 90% black a week ago.

 

[Mmathis]

-- that fish you can't see very well in my 2nd picture [post #5] was sold as a "sky blue opal" something or other. It's now almost totally black [or dark blue] -- which is OK 'cause I like the dark, and it helps the fish hide

Here's what it looked like when I bought it..... If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a different fish.View attachment 82260

I feel just aweful, guys, especially @CometKeith @Nepen @bettasngoldfish @addy1 @Dave 54 (and anyone else who may have been watching this thread......) To make a long story short, I just quoted myself from post #12. Please read the final sentence.

I was going through my photos, and I ran across, well let's just say that I have been deceiving myself about this fish. Last year I did make 2 separate Watonai purchases from KTTW, and there was a "blue" fish in each purchase. Somewhere along the way, one of those fish mysteriously disappeared from the pond. I don't have a time reference, but I do recall a day when it dawned on me that, "I used to have 2 fish like this, now there's only 1."

So, you decide...... Here are pics of the 2 fish, along with the one I still have. Either way, the existing fish DID go through some changes, but I think the one I still have is the one with the orange on it's head and NOT the one I was saying it was.

I feel so STUPID, and I almost didn't post this "retraction," except that my conscience has bothered me ever since I made the discovery!

 

[Nepen]

TM, The one with the orange on its head is a shubunkin? the tail is not a wakin like the sky blue one. And the one in your pond now look beautiful I love that. But I dont really think it's ski blue either. It could be, thought.

 

[Mmathis]

TM, The one with the orange on its head is a shubunkin? the tail is not a wakin like the sky blue one. And the one in your pond now look beautiful I love that. But I dont really think it's ski blue either. It could be, thought.

Nepen, it does look like a Shubie in this shot (this was off the web site when I ordered it), but it's a Watonai -- you just can't see the tail well here. When I am back home and can access more photos on my iPad, I'll see if there is a shot that shows the tail better.

 

[CometKeith]

Maggie, It's a little confusing so now you think the fish is a shubunkin and not a watonai? I have't really seen my shubunkins change colors. It seem like the comets are the ones always changing. I have had a bunch change to white. Not sure why they do that but maybe it's like "tulips" if you know that story and how at one time one single rare tulip was traded for a house....until they found out it was a insect that made them change colors and then all the rare ones were totally worthless!

 

[Mmathis]

Maggie, It's a little confusing so now you think the fish is a shubunkin and not a watonai? I have't really seen my shubunkins change colors. It seem like the comets are the ones always changing. I have had a bunch change to white. Not sure why they do that but maybe it's like "tulips" if you know that story and how at one time one single rare tulip was traded for a house....until they found out it was a insect that made them change colors and then all the rare ones were totally worthless!

No, it's absolutely NOT a Shubie! Nepen said it (one of the pics) looked like a Shubie. It (both fish) is a Watonai, double/split tail and all. I was just confused because I'd forgotten that I'd purchased 2 "blue" and similar fish, and since one of those has disappeared, I don't really know for sure which fish is which.

And I'd never heard the tulip story -- cool & thanks for sharing that!

 

[CometKeith]

Maggy, Not to derail your thread but I read a book a number of years back called "Devil take the Hindmost" by Edward Chancellor. It starts out with the tulip crash in Holland in the 17th century and then moves on to financial markets and why they crash. At the time I thought it was a little depressing but I should have taken it to heart and thought about the premise more thoroughly before my business was affected by the crash of the real estate market.
oh... and glad you figured out which fish was which. I bought 2 watonais a few years back but they were affected by disease I had in my pond the following year. I never thought about spending so much on a fish again.

 

[Mmathis]

Maggy, Not to derail your thread but I read a book a number of years back called "Devil take the Hindmost" by Edward Chancellor. It starts out with the tulip crash in Holland in the 17th century and then moves on to financial markets and why they crash. At the time I thought it was a little depressing but I should have taken it to heart and thought about the premise more thoroughly before my business was affected by the crash of the real estate market.
oh... and glad you figured out which fish was which. I bought 2 watonais a few years back but they were affected by disease I had in my pond the following year. I never thought about spending so much on a fish again.

No problem! Economics & politics are things I have trouble grasping..... But the "history" and science parts [IOW, what was going on, culturally during a time period and an event] are fascinating! You get to put yourself back in that time & place and really feel what was taking place -- which often helps to explain WHY something turned out the way it did [but then, you are back to economics & politics again....]. I hate to hear that you had problems with your business. Did you ever recover and get back to normal?

Back to the fish..... Well, I haven't decided which one it is, though thinking that the fish I still have is the one [see pic] that has the orange head. Looking at the pics of the 2 and comparing to the remaining fish, what do you think?

And yes, I think about the cost every time I lose or think I've lost a fish!

 

[Nepen]

haha! That picture is really deceiving!! I thought you just put the picture of the wrong fish that's all

your watonai is so pretty!

 

[Mmathis]

I was looking up something on YouTube the other night, but for the life of me I can't reproduce that search. There was a very short video (it might have been a clip from a product ad....????) that I ran across -- it was titled something like, " koi goes into skimmer to eat trapped food."

This is not the original video I found, but it does show that fish can & will get into and out of a skimmer. This skimmer is similar to my Oase, except that mine only has one entry point with a floating weir.

 

[Dave 54]

Well they all seem to be able to escape from it Maggie , the only other thing I could suggests would be to put a bit of plastic stiff netting over it to stop this if your still worrid about it ?

Dave

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks Maggie. Everything has worked out since then but it was a very rough patch to get through. I never expected the whole housing industry to crash but fortunately I had good skills that transferred to new businesses and was able to get the word out about what we were good at. A lot of people in the housing industry were not able to survive in any way. Thank you for asking and good luck with all your pretty fish!

 

[Mmathis]

Watonai-in-skimmer update:

I decided to re-home the fish as the safest solution for it. It's been moved to the QT, and will be a permanent resident there.

Lately it has been spending more & more time in the skimmer and wasn't getting out as readily and as easily as it has in the past. There is more algae collecting inside the skimmer [yum!] -- as well as a slimy algae coat on the weir flap, which was quite slippery. Cleaning the weir flap did make it easier for the fish to get out. But my main concern is that sometimes the skimmer will "pop up," and when that happens, if there is a fish inside, it's going to die. I've been unplugging the skimmer periodically, but not a permanent solution.

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So now, my biggest problem [don't laugh].......I'm struggling to not give this guy a name! Every fish that's had a name -- official name or nickname -- has either died or disappeared And it's hard 'cause this fish is so darn cute!!