"George" wrote in message
news:y7ife.64617$WI3.27271@attbi_s71...
Hi boys and girls. I thought I would update you on the developments since
my last post. Some of you may recall my post of 4/25, about finding a
goldfish in my pond that appeared to be about 3-4 months old. Well, I
guess it is still in there, although I haven't seen it in a couple of days
(there are lots of places for a small black fish to hide in the pond). I'm
still at a loss as to where he come from since if my fish spawned him,
they would have had to spawn him in the dead of winter (that would be
below frezing in these parts, so what are the chances they would have
spawned in that weather). A midget from last year? Not likely because it
still has its baby black. I have yet to see any others.

On another, related note, it is Kentucky Derby day (or was - its' after
mid-night here) here in, where else, 'Derby City' (Louisville's
nickname). Early this morning at about 6:30 A.M. I got up to do some early
chores to get ready for the day's festivities, and while getting a glass
of water, I looked out my kitchen window and noticed that all of the fish
were swimming around in a frenzy, even the Koi. I went out to check on
them, and yes, they are spawning (I don't think the Koi were actually
spawning, just curious). The water is all frothy, like last year. I have
at least five females who are all battered one the side from the efforts
(just like my big female was last year). I found one this afternoon
hiding behind the filter beneath the waterfall (it was one of my two year
old goldfish - one of the 'feeders' I bought originally to feed to my
catfish, who apparently wasn't interested at the time). This is the same
place my big female spawned last year to eventually produce the 8
yearlings I have now (who are three times the size of this black mystery
newbie, are a multitude of colors, and very nice). They appear to like
this location as it is sheltered, there are cattails nearby, and it is a
hard place to get in and out of. The catfish can't touch them there. One
thing seems certain, I'm going to have a heck of a lot of fry this year.

My GF are also spawning today. Four or five suitors are pestering one larger
female. They are also cavorting behind the waterfall, which just got turned
on yesterday. I didn't have any fry survive last year, so they'll likely all
become fish food again this year.



On another note, when I was in college years ago, my wife and I (we were
dating at the time) used to go out to a Pizza joint on the other side of
town that had great live music. The name of the place was Jockamos. We
used to go there every weekend. It was a local college hangout (alas, they
went belly up - too much 'free beer', I suppose). The food was lousy, but
the beer and song was wonderful. Well, what does this have to do with
anything? Well, the horse that won the Derby, a 50-1 nag, was names
Giacomo (pronounced, Jockamo). Dabnabbit! What was I thinking? To think
what I would have made had I bet on this three year old
diamond-in-the-rough.

Enjoy the spring. It won't last much longer.