Is this possible?

[lauragal]

Now that the weather is nicer, I see a number of my fish in the pond. However, I also see a bunch of baby fish - could they have had babies this early in the season? Last year, before I closed my pond, I noticed 3 small black fish in the pond (about 2 inches long), that I didn't put there.

 

[fish]

I had the same thing. Five black lookingf fish last summer. Today I took all of my fish out to cleaned my pond. I got a good look at the black fish. The are now multicolored. I thought they might be Koi but the didn't have whiskers and their bodies look about like the gold fish I have. They are now about 4/5 inches long. So I don't know.

 

[nigil]

They probably spawned last year and are now big enough to see. When I cleaned my pond in October I found 10-15 little black fish, these are now 2 inches and still black. Its fun to watch them change color....

 

[lauragal]

Yeah, my little black ones are about the same size. But I still have those 3 bigger black fish from last year. They are not a whole lot bigger than they were 6 months ago. How do you take all your fish out of the pond? I'm afraid that I'll suck some of the little guys out if I do that! I would love to drain the pond and power wash it, but I'm afraid of losing some fish.

 

[lauragal]

Nigil - people told me that the bigger fish will eat the babies. Not so far. I'd love to see them survive and change color. Wonder how long it takes for them to change.

 

[nigil]

The ones you see are generally the ones that survived the big fish. Thats why they are black and hard to see......I generally pump out the water until the pump can't and then use a wet vac with panty hose on it so I don't suck up the babies, and always have a net nearby as well....They will get big this year, trust me.

 

[lauragal]

I think that's what I'll do. My husband has a wet vac and he can do that part! I can't imagine that it's easy to catch the little ones with a net, though. They're so small I can hardly see them.

 

[nigil]

I only tend to find them as the water gets to 2-3 inches. Try using a net that has very small holes in it.

 

[lauragal]

Will do - thanks.

 

[koiguy1969]

LARAGAL...adults will absolutely eat the babies untill they are large enough to be recognised as fish not insect larvae.. if you found 10 or 20 thats due to natural selection ..thet will lay 100s if not 1000s of eggs at a time, and a great number will be eaten as eggs. even the larger babies (called tobies) will eat the smaller babies.all goldfish are hatched black koi are opague

 

[lauragal]

I see - do you know how long it takes for the fish to get color?

 

[Airic]

Last year with the gold fish I had they changed color pretty quick. Some were only 1/2" - 3/4" long and had lots of different colors. Some will just stay dark brown. If I recall when I cleaned them all out of my pond and I had hundreds, only 60 or so had color. I'm guessing 1 in 3 to 1 in 4 will have color.

 

[koiguy1969]

theyre all individuals some will start getting color real soon some may take a year or more.. of mine,most of the ones who wintered outdoors are still grayish brown or black looking,all but 2 indoors have color.

 

[lauragal]

Thanks!

 

[JoaniePA]

Hmm... I don't see any baby fish. I do see one HUGE tadpole, though. I bet he's 4" long.. and he has angry eyes. (might be a "she", but either way... ugly.) This may explain why I see no baby fish. hmmmm