"Dermuid" wrote in message
...

"mich" wrote in message
...
:
: In message , Ged
: writes
: I have a small pond in my garden inhabited these last 5 years by 5
: goldfish.While feeding them today a stranger came to the surface to
feed
: !.
: It was a black fish about 2 inches long, fast moving and surface
feeding,
: how it got there I do not know !.
: Can anyone identify it for me please?, maybe I can buy it some
friends
of
: its own species !
:
: You need to congratulate the proud parents of this young fish. Throw
them
: some extra fish food.
:
:
Nonsense, if they did breed there would be more than one fish extra, the
pond would be full of fry.

******
Waal! - I dunno!. my small pond has seven goldfish and they are about six
or seven inches long. Been there about ten years and shared the pond with
toad and frog taddies every spring.
Just now only two are sunning themselves between the leaves of the two
masses of water-lilies.
This year, no spawn and no taddies!. not even one. I am putting that down
to wastage over the years due to succeeding years of being blackbird fodder,
they are very vulnerable when they all grow legs and then suddenly, within
one day, all desert the pond and can sometimes be seen hopping about in the
flower beds and lawns , (including the neighbours).
I have concluded that they have been scoffed and so cannot return the next
year to spawn.
The goldfish used to have breeding frenzies and I often saw plenty of eggs,
but through the years I have not seen a young fry at all. I put it down to
the parents using the fry for their pudding course. I have fed the six
regularly with fish pellets but have never seen them devouring any. They
graze the green stuff just under the water's edge. Vegetarians?, I ask
myself.
The pond is a static living entity with two lilies and some aerating plants.
It even has small leeches in it. I netted out the bottom slurry a month ago
and pumped out water at one end whilst a hose from the tap at the other end
kept the depth steady and clear the water a bit.. I would have thought that
if any were dead I would have netted them up, but I saw nothing like a
six-inch golden fish except for two which came up in the net.
All I can do is wait and see, I suppose.
Doug.