I think your point is well taken...fish eat fish. Hungry fish eat more of
the babies than full fish.

As to thinning. I do believe that more well-fed adults means more
spawning...but that may not result in a greater survival rate. I think
fish like their little swimming protein bundles...fed or not. I am sure
cover for the babies is another an important part of their survival rate.
It can shield them from their parents and other species.

We have had NO babies grow up over the last five years. The fish are well
fed and do spawn. We have a bunch of mosquito fish in the pond. They
reproduce well and are, I suspect, responsible for the loss of many of the
little fish and the eggs. We have a good bit of cover for them as well (WH,
egg crates koi can't get under, etc. We think the mosquito fish are
probably why none of the baby goldies or koi have made it. We did get
babies in the first year, when we had feeder goldfish and baby koi only in
the pond. Since they grew up and the mosquito fish went in, nothing. It
would be nice to have babies, but it would also mean having to cull to keep
the pond population steady. Our koi now run in the 24" category and the
goldies in the 7-10" category. Stable population is probably good for us.

Jim

"~ jan JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 26 Mar "Phyllis and Jim Hurley" wrote:

Population: Kathy is right about pet shops and about the value of cutting
back the numbers of goldies. Unfortunately, that will also fuel their
successful spawn.

I respectfully disagree, I think it is the "feeding" that fuels it, if
they
aren't fed, live off the pond than the statement below controls the
problem:

However, the big guys will eat up the babies if they are hungry.

Reason: I worried about over population in the Demon pond when someone
(and
we do know who) put in 6 comet goldfish (not even pretty ones). Since they
aren't fed and must compete with a dozen butterfly koi and lots of rosy
reds, we haven't had the population explosion I worried about.

To the original poster, even without a filter you can help the water
quality by doing frequent small water changes, 20% once a week. You'll
will
need something to treat the new water to detox chlorine or chloramines,
whichever your water company uses.

BTW, can you run an extension cord out there? Not prudent, but many of us
did it (and still do it) for years before we got the post right out to the
pond(s)/filter(s). ~ jan


See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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