About two months ago we bought about a dozen each big clumps of water lettuce and water hyacinth from a nearby Koi enthusiast. His place is like a free-form aquarium - ponds around every corner, little fish, big fish, etc.
He fished the lettuce right out of a pond that had Koi lunkers in it. Tossed the lettuce in a plastic bag. We drove home (only about 15 minutes away) and chunked the lettuce in our new pond.
The lettuce and hyacinth has done so well that we were pulling some out of the pond last night. We noticed hundreds of tiny fish. They're about the size of mosquito larvae.
Is it possible for Koi eggs attached to water lettuce to survive a 15-20 minute trip in a plastic bag? These fry are so tiny that it's entirely possible our native goldfish have done the same thing every year, then ate the kids before we ever noticed. OTOH, we're wondering if we got free Koi.
I assume there's not much we can do about it now? How soon before you can tell whether fry are goldfish or Koi? And should we think about trying to feed them or let them forage? Algae has established itself in the new pond. The adult goldfish may take care of the situation for us...
He fished the lettuce right out of a pond that had Koi lunkers in it. Tossed the lettuce in a plastic bag. We drove home (only about 15 minutes away) and chunked the lettuce in our new pond.
The lettuce and hyacinth has done so well that we were pulling some out of the pond last night. We noticed hundreds of tiny fish. They're about the size of mosquito larvae.
Is it possible for Koi eggs attached to water lettuce to survive a 15-20 minute trip in a plastic bag? These fry are so tiny that it's entirely possible our native goldfish have done the same thing every year, then ate the kids before we ever noticed. OTOH, we're wondering if we got free Koi.
I assume there's not much we can do about it now? How soon before you can tell whether fry are goldfish or Koi? And should we think about trying to feed them or let them forage? Algae has established itself in the new pond. The adult goldfish may take care of the situation for us...
