"pb" wrote in message
.com...
In article ,
says...

..not a lot of sense.


I have a pond with goldfish and they spawn every year, the pond is then
very well populated with tiny fish, perhaps several hundred. They never
become adult fish, the bigger fish eat them and frogs eat them, they get
sucked into the pump and generally perish in many ways. Some years I
have two survivors and other years none. One year I had six black fish
about an inch long in the spring, as far as I know only one lived.
There is no reason whatsoever to suppose that the OPs pond would be full
of small fish, black or otherwise.
As for the bigger fish's appetite, I took some spawn out of the pond and
raised the fry in a tank, I had one particularly nice fish with a very
long tail. When it was about an inch or so long I decided to return it
to the pond, it was eaten within a couple of minutes. They will eat
almost anything they can get in their mouths including their own eggs
and fry.

In the two years I lived at my house the pond population has gone from five
to ten (one death and six births). Haven't spotted any new fish this year
but then again trying to see something that is black/brown and small, in a
pond is always tricky.

p.s. When do goldfish spawn and how long does it take for a goldfish to
'mature'?