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mondotomhead

I have fish babies! From feeder fish??

mondotomhead
14 years ago

Last weekend end I was trying to stand up my crappy water lettuce when I noticed there were "eggs" on it. Little white dots in that jelly stuff were clinging to the roots. I thought they might be frog or toad eggs. I put the entire lettuce in a small aquarium and put that on a shelf in my pond. Two days later there are little things swimming around. They look like pictures of baby fish I've seen on the internet. Can these be goldfish babies? I only have "feeder" goldfish and have had them only 3 weeks. Could they have been on the lettuce I bought just last week? I am pretty excited about this!!

Comments (8)

  • krnuttle
    14 years ago

    Probably.
    We have a pond with three pools separated by weirs. About four years ago, I cleaned our pond removed; everything and scrubbed. We purchased about a dozen $0.26 feeder fish. Only four survived the winter.

    The next spring I did some minor repairs and started the pump. It ran about two weeks, and then I shut it down as we took a long vacation.

    When we returned from vacation we had hundreds of babies, in all three pools. From the first four that survived the winter we have about 70 fish in the three pools today. The original four are over 8" long. They reproduce every spring.

  • mondotomhead
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    WOW! I guess I thought that feeder fish being so small were baby goldfish. I didn't realize that they were just small mature fish.

    Well, like I said, I am excited about these babies. This is my first spring with a pond and I am learning so much especially from this forum. I've been reading all the postings. I'm on page 50 right now!

  • squirelette
    14 years ago

    Congrats on your babies, your fish will continue to spawn through out the season the babies will hide in the water lettuce roots and anywhere else they can find. If you are lucky some will survive and flourish for you for next year.

  • krnuttle
    14 years ago

    This is based on my observation not necessarily what the book says.

    When hatched gold fish are very small at two weeks they are about a half inch. Within a few weeks they well be about 1 inches long. By the following spring they will be 2 to 3 inches long.

    When hatched they are black. When about a year old they turn gold. Some gold fish turn white as they age. Our oldest male is about all white. (We assume he is male since he is the one doing most of the chasing in the spring)

    Conditions can effect their growth rate.

    Do a google there is a lot of information online.

  • annedickinson
    14 years ago

    I now have 2 fish, Ito, a comet and Molly, an unknown black/gold fish, that came in as an egg on a plant. There were originally about 24 fish that started as eggs on plants, but Molly is the only one who survived. She and Ito faithfully reproduce annually!!!! Luckily I can find suckers to take the babies!!

  • newbirdman
    14 years ago

    Goldfish can have babies when they are 1 year old , about 3" s long and since the eggs hatch in 2 days your fish are probably the parents . If I were you , Id get rid of them and buy some shubukins . At least they have colors . You goldfish will be all black for a few years before they turn orange. I have some black goldfish that are 10" long and havent changed colors yet. To bad the heron doesnt eat them , it only eats my colorful fish .

  • dafidowndilly
    9 years ago

    My children bought 10 feeder fish last year and put them in our pond... they survived the winter. They have sponed and now there are hundred of small medium and large (ý to 1 inch) along with the original 10. My question to anyone is: They are fun to see but they all black in color. Will they change as they get older or is it their environment that is determining their color?

    Here is a link that might be useful: the ever changing unfinished pond

  • waterbug_guy
    9 years ago

    They normally change color.

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