I've got some babies!

[Jahshoeuh]

Hello there everybody, I guess i'll intoroduce myself first and give a little background!

My name is Josh, and i've been a fish keeper my whole life, although this is my first pond. We recently purchased a house about a month and a half ago that has an established 1,600 gallon pond which I believe has been running for about 10 years. The previous owners stocked it entirely with srasa comets, which are all varying ages. A few weeks after we moved in, I began to notice 2 small black fish swimming around and I was baffled as to what they could be ... So, a little research taught me they they are actually young goldish, and they should get their colors by the end of summer. Those two guys are about 3 inches in legnth now, and still a dark brownish almost black color.

Now, I had a butterfly koi that a friend had got for me back in high school about 9 years ago ... The poor guy had been living his whole life in a 30 gallon aquarium, so as soon as we signed the papers I was quick to put him in the pond! And boy does he love it! He has all but doubled his size in only month (from about 6 inches to almost 11), and seems to be getting along just fine with all of the comets.

Well heres where i'm a little confused ... 3 days ago I noticed a tiny (about half inch) fish swimming around in the pond. It has a white body with an orange head and black on its tail. Now this guy is growing fast, because hes much easier to see now, maybe an inch, and his colors are getting brighter. I was wondering why he would already have adult coloration when the other two youngsters from earlier in the year are still black? Could he possibly be a mix between my koi and a comet?

It also crossed my mind that it may not even be a goldfish at all because I put some anacharis in the pond last week and it could have possibly stowed away as an egg ... although its shape, colors, and characteristics lead me to believe that it is in fact some kind of goldfish.

So heres the question ... will some baby goldfish hatch with adult colors while others have the darker coloration until maturity?

I appreciate any input!

If I can get any good pictures of the little guy i'll upload them, but ive had no luck up to this point.

 

[cajunmeme]

From my experience with goldfish, they could all be goldfish. I presently have one that is three years old and has not yet turned any color other than black. I do believe he is an oddity. Some of my fry stay black or with some black for a while. While others I swear seem to hatch in color. Pictures would definitely help. The more expert folks here could probably identify your fish with pics.

 

[sissy]

Yep bought a black fish and 5 years later he is not black anymore .I had 5 years always black and then suddenly he started changing colors .

 

[j.w]

Josh
I only have goldfish and Shubunkins and I have some big old goldfish that have stayed dark also for several yrs. Wondering if they will ever change to oj. Some goldfish turn from dark to oj/oj & white sooner when tiny, don't know why they just do.

 

[capewind]

Same here... One of my red comets came to us around 4-5" or so, ORANGE... now is blackish and guessing 8"... We also have gold fish babies... different hatch dates... the younger group is now 2-3"... they were all a deep brown on top, and gold on their sides... boring, all of them... NOW I have a bunch that are at various stages of turning orange, but the majority are still brown & gold... Also found another baby, a bit older, that is most definitely koi/goldfish... brown & gold like my comet babies, but has barbels and other structure differences that says it isnt one butt ugly koi, but a simply mutt LOL... In any regard, enjoy watching your babies develop! Every time I start thinking BORING, someone is changing

 

[brokensword]

I too had babies (last year--my first pond year, and this year again) and have found that some are indeed various iterations of the many possible parents, while about a third are the dark brown/bronze/black variety. So, babies can and do start out in other colors than the dark variety. It's my hope that most if not all change, but the one survivor from last year is about 3" and still the same dark bronze color. Seems this is not a given, when/where/which will change if ever. Hopefully, yours will change sooner.

Just my experience so far.


Michael

 

[Jahshoeuh]

Thanks everybody!

I'm really hoping the little guy with the colors on him keeps the color pattern he has ... I got a good look at him this morning and he has a bright orange head which fades to a white body, and the the white fades to black on the tip of his tail, I think that would make for a very impressive adult fish! As for the black guys, I wouldnt mind at all if they stayed black, I think they would add a nice splash of 'color' to all the orange and white in there now. Out of the 15 fish I can currently count only one comet has any black on him, and then my butterfly koi is white with black down his spine.

 

[callingcolleen1]

WeLcOmE!! Josh, it is quite possible he is a half breed, poor butterfly KOi live so long in that tank and when he finally got "free" he bred with the "local natives" in your pond cause he was "desperate" for love and may have produced that offspring! I too have a half breed koi that has been all black for about six or seven years now!

Nice to hear your taking good care of the pond with the house you just bought. Got all the "pond" stuff down pat?

 

[capewind]

I think any way we look at it, for a lot of us, it is fun watching the babies!

We had koi spawn in QT and are raising out a bunch, and we also collected all the babies we found outside and brought them in to see what we had.

Once the fish that were from originally outside were big enough to figure out what they were (results of at least 4 or 5 different spawns), we separated out the definite comets, and put them in the upper pond. I threw about 50 out there, but going to say there are only about 25 of them left. All the "smaller ones" are missing, so they "fed" someone. The ones who were bigger, are all coming up on 3" now (tip of nose to end of tail - long fins, so in reality 3" is misleading) and are starting to school with the other comets. They are not as spooky around the bigger fish now either, and are starting to come over to me when I feed (still tentative but coming over). I am going to estimate about a third are changing colors now to orange. A lot of those look black and orange at the moment, but if the first to change means anything with our guys, they will go solid orange or stay the blackish color, given the color of our mature fish. I would love it if some went black and orange, but I just dont know the genetic history or possibilities (too under educated to guess, so will have to play wait and see). The ones that are presently mixed colors frankly look like cheap feeder fish, but I wouldnt mind the variety in colors in that pond LOL. I am having much more fun watching the comets than the koi at this point.

 

[addy1]

to our group

I have just goldfish and shubunkins, love all the different colors we have in our pond. Never know what will show up. Some are still dark, some of the shubunkins are real dark with ton of colors