Baby fish

12 years ago

I've had my pond for a little over a year now and almost from the start I've had trouble with green water. I know this is caused by floating algae and have been trying various things to clear up the water. I didn't have any experience with ponds before I put this one in nor did I know anybody with a pond so I'm pretty sure I made some mistakes in the design but it would be a bit difficult to fix them now. I have 11 red comet goldfish and 4 shubunkins, the bigest of which is around 7" long and the smallest about 5" long even though they were all about the same size when I bought them. Never intended to have so many, just more of the red comets survived then I expected, added the shubunkins a couple months after the red comets.

The ponds finally starting to clear up once I move another water lily into it from a holding pot that that I keep for experimenting with plants and to put frog eggs in. I also put in some more water hyacinth. I try to keep the frog eggs out of the big pond because the tadpoles kept clogging up the filter. When I moved the water lily to the big pond I moved a water hyacinth into the holding pot for the tadpoles. I also have a little parrots feather and some type of floating fern like plant I got from a local lake.

Now here's the part about the baby fish. The other day I was looking into the holding pot to check out the tadpoles and to see if I needed to take out any tiny frogs/toads. As I was peering down into the waster I noticed a tiny little fish dart past! I managed to catch the little thing and discoverd it was a tingy little shubunkin goldfish. Then I found 5 more little fish, 2 more shubukins, 1 white, and 2 black. They are so cute but I'm not sure what to do with them. The pot they are in is about 2' deep by 2' across but there is no water movement, so no oxygenation of the water. I don't want to put them in the main pond as I 'm concerned that the bigger fish will eat them but will they be okay in the pot with just the plants?

Kara

Comments (9)

pikecoe
12 years ago
They will survive in the pot with no oxygen or food for awhile, but would do better in the big pond. How big are they? Once they are big enough to look like fish the adult fish will not eat them.
lisa11310
12 years ago
Get a cheap fish bowl and do partial water changes. Put them in the pond when they get big enough. :)
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KaraLynn
Original Author
12 years ago
They're about an inch long I think and so fast that I was lucky to catch the first one in order to get a closer look at it. I have a small water airater that I used the one time I had to drain the pond to make a repair and had to put all the fish in a temporary container (used a medium sized clear storage box). I could set that up on the back porch for a while and put the baby fish in it. Can't set it up in the house as I have a cat that loves to play in water and would probably torment the fish.

How many fish is it okay to keep in a 11' x 5' x 2 1/2' deep pond? I already have 15 larger fish and who knows how many babies in the pond. What do you do with the extra fish that comes from the adults having babies? Can they be sold to pet stores?
gardengimp
12 years ago
Kara, my understanding is if you put a whole bunch of oxygenating plants - wisteria, cabomba, hornwort; you can increase your fish load. The amount of fish can roughly be determined by the surface area of water. I read in this forum some where the formula for ponds, though it really is a best guess.

Too many babies and what to do???

Weeeeelllll; you could come visit me and help me dig a hole that big and deep amongst the oak tree roots? joking fish fry? joking Seriously, locally owned fish store? Pitch it to them, it doesn't hurt. Also, ebay, craigslist; and/or trades.

And I'm no expert for certain, but 1" long babies? If you have plenty of plants and plenty of caves, they should be fine in your big pond.

~dianne
annedickinson
12 years ago
When I was digging the hole for my pond I jumped the gun and bought plants before I had a pond. I put them in a big (20 gal?) blue tub and continued digging. A couple of weeks later the pond had water in it and was ready for the plants.

When I went to take them out of the tub, lo and behold, there were about 40 baby fish (maybe 1/4" long) in the tub. At first I thought they were mosquito wigglers but they acted like fish, not wigglers.

Anyway, I left them in the tub all summer and they were fine. I was new enough to ponding that I didn't even think of a bubbler or aeration. I did feed them fish fry food when they got bigger.

My female, Molly, was one of those babies.

Anne
KaraLynn
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for all the advice! For now the fish will stay where they are but I'll set up a temporary fish tank on the back porch with plants and everything. I don't want to put them in the big pond yet because they are just the right size to be a snack for the biggest of the red comets who always seems to be hungry and begging for food. Besides they are just so cute and I want to be able to watch them grow for a while!

Dianne, I'll think I'll pass on trying to dig a pond out of an area full of oak tree roots! lol Have you considered getting a big livestock watering trough and sitting it under your oaks to use as a pond? That would be easier and then you wouldn't have to worry about damaging your trees. If you ever need some fish though I'll be happy to share, at the rate mine are growing I have a feeling I'll be needing to thin their numbers eventually!
pondmaninal
12 years ago
Karalynn, if you ever need to get rid of some fish, I have contacts near you that might want them. I use to live in Morriston, FL and had a pond rescue going. Now I live in Alabama but still know people in the Ocala area that can help you with over load problems.
KaraLynn
Original Author
12 years ago
That's great, pondmaninal! I work in Ocala so it's nice to know that there someone in the area to take some of the excess fish off my hands if/when I run into issues. What is a pond rescue group?
buyorsell888
12 years ago
Goldfish breed like rabbits and you will eventually need to get rid of some unless you get visited by herons or other predators. Craig's List, local fish store (usually trade for credit not cash) other ponders locally are all possibilities. After time they start to breed babies that aren't as colorful. They don't change to red/orange and stay an olive drab color. stores may take these as feeders.