Goldfish population explosion

Other plants we have or landscape elements like ponds.

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Alan_L
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Goldfish population explosion

Post by Alan_L »

My five goldfish (cheap, 20-cent comets) last year went to 60 (or more?) now:

Image

I wonder how many there were going into winter? Ice covered the pond for most of it.

I haven't seen the fifth original fish (it was black), but its contribution to the next generation is obvious!

Image

More photos here:
http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com/2 ... -fish.html
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JWH
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by JWH »

Awesome! 8)
dependable
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by dependable »

I have a small pond I have considered adding fish. It has a lot of frogs. Is your pond filtered? Do you feed fish much? Do the fish clean pond up, or mess it up? Thanks.
Alan_L
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by Alan_L »

My pond is not filtered -- there's no moving water in it either. I have never fed the fish and never will -- they find their own food. I have a couple of frogs too, and loads of toads (when mating).

My pond would feel kind of "blah" without fish -- even though I only catch glimpses of them between plants in the summer.
canadianplant
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by canadianplant »

Is that the big pond allan? The bigger it is the better chance you can get away with no filtration.

My grandma had a modest sized pond a good 15 years ago, maybe 500 gallons and every year she could not stop her fish from breeding. She lost all her fish a few years after that and restocked. That year she turned that modest pond into one thats 60 000 gallons. Funny thing? No breeding what so ever since.

In regards to the new gen parents....

The thing about those 20 cent comets is that they were probably feeder fish. The thing about them is that 95% of the time they are from mixed parents and they are the " random bastard" offspring that breeders dont want. You really dont know what the parentage is so even two white comets can have the black offspring, or black have red and white etc... Even then, when you breed the comets you will get some randoms simply due to domestication...
dependable
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by dependable »

When I was a kid, I lived in a suburb of Detroit. There was the Rouge river, a tributary to the Detroit, that flowed though suburbs that were once mill/ industrial sites. Flowed though some ponds it went through, there were all the spectrum of mixed goldfish/carp, and some of them were a foot long.
Tarzanus
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by Tarzanus »

I have a couple of frogs too, and loads of toads (when mating).
Alan, do the fish eat their offspring? I was thinking about fishes in my pond, but I'm afraid they would eat all the tadpoles. There are thousands of them every year and perhaps more than that of all kinds of dragonflies. I guess I don't even need fish. :)
stevelau1911
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by stevelau1911 »

Given that they do eat the small ones, then it would mean that the black ones may be less visible and more likely to survive so after a few generations, perhaps it will be all black fish. I'm actually a bit surprised that not feeding them could yield such a large population in a small pond.

It looks like the going price is around $1.20 per pound for food so not having to feed them is a plus.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/51-lb-BULK-FLOA ... 3cdbea7622
Alan_L
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by Alan_L »

I suppose they do eat some of their offspring, and I've read that goldfish will eat frog eggs and tadpoles. They don't like toad eggs or tadpoles, and other people I know have goldfish and frogs in the same pond, so there must be a balance. I have so many dragonflies and damselflies too, not to mention countless other insects that depend on or visit the pond.

I've seen the fish eating some types of algae and duckweed, but other than those I'm not sure what they're eating. I have plenty of plants in the water to absorb the fish waste -- don't think I mentioned that earlier, but it's key to keeping things in balance.
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by needmore »

I feed mine and also have a healthy population of 4 species of frogs so maybe feeding them leaves more frog eggs.
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stevelau1911
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by stevelau1911 »

I've seen koi fish get over 2ft long before, perhaps from a lot of feeding, but a more impressive thing about them is that they can live for a very long time. I guess another given is that they are super cold hardy so they seem pretty durable. We now know that they multiply pretty easily too. I don't think that pond can support anywhere close to 60 fish growing to full size so either their growth may be stunted or some will probably have to starve.

http://fishlaboratory.com/news/koi-hana ... -fish-ever

http://www.ask.com/question/what-is-the ... f-koi-carp

There are also ways to make them happier such as through air systems, pumps, feeding, etc shown on this video.
canadianplant
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by canadianplant »

Koi will grow to three or four feet. You can get the growth rate up with good food but the best thing is the size and depth of the pond.

They can take some good cold but they need unfrozen water and a bit of muck. The water should be a mi imum of five feet if not you have to builild a frame and mulch it. A good snow pack helps. The more back and fourth the wi ter temps or snow pack the more need for mulch
Tarzanus
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by Tarzanus »

They most likely eat mosquito larvae and other similar insects that lay eggs in the shallow water or submerged plants. Dragonfly larvae is also extremely efficient predator and will kill smaller pond inhabitants. Since I have them in the pond, not a single mosquito managed to develop and leave the water.
Alan_L
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by Alan_L »

Steve, my fish aren't koi.
stevelau1911
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Re: Goldfish population explosion

Post by stevelau1911 »

Just found out that comets are different from kois. Perhaps putting in 1 koi fish would make it more fun especially if koi have a bigger size potential just so you can have 1 fish much bigger than the rest.
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