what to do with all the baby goldfish and koi

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hello, im new here. i made a problem with my pond this spring when i changed my filter media in my mechanical filter from fine 2in thick pads to matala. and i changed from river rock bio filter media to bio balls. it works great, i dont have to mess with it near as much. i didnt think about all the fish eggs that my old system caught in the media. now alot of the eggs just go thru everything and end up in the pond again and i get hundreds of babies. has anybody had this problem? draining the pond is out of the question, its to big and it would stress the heck out of my fish tryin to net them up. some of them prob weigh 10 lbs or better. i fished about 150 of them out this summer with a very small hook, a shad net doesnt work to well either, they see it coming a mile away. any advise? thank you
 

sissy

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I use lots of plants in my filters as it helps clean them .But if you have lots of babies may be impossible to catch them all most adult fish will eat babies also .Why do you need to take them out is your pond not deep enough for winter .Can you offer to give the babies away through a local paper .
 
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i just dont want all them fish in there, i like a low stock. i have 13 koi ranging from 18in to 28in. 1 albino cat 26in long. 1 blue gill and 1 large mouth bass. he did good for a while eatin the babies but now i think he is friends with them all. lol. and i have a handfull of goldfish. my pond is 20000 gallon. 6.5 ft deep in the deepest part. they over winter fine.
 

sissy

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I find if you give them away you make a lot of new pond friends .post them on here .
 
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lol maybe. maybe i can net some out when the water gets cooler, they wont b moving as fast. my kids and i swim in it all summer, we tried to catch some then but its almost impossible. kids had fun thou!
 
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Why are so many of your eggs going through your filter system? Usually goldfish and koi will lay their eggs on vegetation, or something that simulates vegetation like a mop head or something. Do you have something like that in your pond?
You'd think the blue gill and the bass aught to be reducing the some of those babies, but maybe you have more than they can eat for now. I'm sure if you net some and the bass and blue gill eat some you'll take care of the immediate problem, problem is next year you'll be be faced with the same dilemma.
I have some young hatchling turtles in my pond and baby turtles favorite food is fish eggs and tiny fry, thus they do a really good job of cleaning up the eggs and fry before you ever notice them in your pond. Of course my pond is a tenth the size of yours. :p

20,000 gal is a nice size pond, how about posting a picture Sawlog?
 
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i will check my camera at home to see if i have any summer pics. the baby goldfish are now 3 and 4 in long. i think they r too big to eat now. baby koi are 8in or better now. only veg i have in pond are water lilies. no spawing mops. but i do have one of those islands that i grow grass one, the fish love that thing. the frogs get on it to. the matala media is pretty open so i think thats why so many eggs are getting thru. next year i might try krewkut media in there when they start to spawn. i run 12000 gal an hour thru my filters so when up put that fine of media in there im always hosing them stupid pads of. at lest once a day. now its only once a week or week and a half. our pond is a fun size, the kids swim around under the water with the fish. u would be suprised how close them fish are to you all the time. the blue gill is tame, you can feed him worms out of your hand under water. he just kinda follows you around.
 

j.w

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welcomesnoball.gif
sawlog
Yep pictures would be cool to see of that big pond
xmassmiley16.gif
 
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Those are some lucky kids you have sawlog. I too would love to see some pictures. And next year, you might want to use spawn mops. You can pull them out of the pond and let them dry in the sun. Easier than cleaning filters.
 

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