I think a fish has the knack to hide in gin clear water in a clear
gallon jug sometimes. I have gone days already and never see signs of
my fish in the enclosure but eventually I see them all but where they
went is beyond me........unless they are jumping ofver the enclosure
netting and going for a vacation in the big pond and them jump back
inthe enclosur were things are much better and food is much more
plentifull ;-)

Black moors and Orandas are pretty easy game in a pond, as compared to
comets and koi. Cats are more than capable of catching them as well.

A lot depends on the temperature of the water as to weather a fish may
float or not, as the cooler the water is the longer it takes to
decompose a little and create gasses internallay to cause it to float
to the top. A lot of times during the time a fish may lay on the
botto9m others may start to pick at it so you may not ever find any
signs of a dead fish. They often get wedged under a plant or pot, and
then get mulm over them which also makes it harder to see.

IMHO, a heron is gonna get the upper hand everytime when it comes to
catching a fish no matter how smart or fast that fish is. Herons are
persistent, and sneaky, and usually win the game over time.

Usually from what I found out, fish if they are not spooked usually
are not seen off by themselves or constantly in self imposed solitary
somewhere, unless they are sick or scared.


On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 17:56:51 -0400, "*muffin*"
wrote:

===ok, I have been adding a few more fish to my pond this year.
===I am 'trying' black moors & orandas etc. plus a few small koi .
===
===most of them had just vanished.
===I 'did' find a dead fish on the bottom of my pond. by sheer luck, as the
===light was in the riight spot.
===
===questions: I thought dead fish floated? (most of my other dead ones did),,
===so much easier to find. I figure they just died........ somewhere......
===I 'did' see a cat by the pond the other day. but I cannot figure out HOW it
===would get any of the fish, unless it jumped in....... unless it fished out
===the dead ones floating by the side?
=== I have plenty of fish, & no one is spastic, as if a heron or raccoon showed
===up. pretty much all of my last years fish I can account for, its just the
===newer ones this year.
=== the small koi (about 3-4 inches) swim pretty darn fast.... cannot see how
===anything could catch them!
===
===now, I do NOT have ginclear water, although if the angle is right I can see
===to the bottom, but cannot make out anything in the center of the pond where
===it is deeper. so they could be dead there......... I cannot imagine they do
===not come out to play with the other fishes,, when the mob is eating,
===practically everyone is there! (do SOME fish just hide & never come out?)
===
===I do have another question,, maybe the spawning is getting to them??? even
===though the goldfish ARE small the bigger fish are including them in all the
===chasing around the pond, when I found a smaller oranda dead I figure he MUST
===have just gotten exhausted from the chasing! If that is what is happening,,
===where the heck are the corpses?
===there are plenty of plant pots for them to 'hide' in, but seems like the
===spawners just run railroad over everything!
===(btw,,,,,,,,,, other question,, both koi & goldfishes are involved all at
===once,,,,,,, is this normal? chasing each others species?)
===
===what ticks me off the most is I bought a 5" black moor for $24. & its
===gone...... *pout* ( just dang it,,,,,,,,, if I could find it dead at least
===I could take it back for refund at LFS)
===
===but the smaller koi are what has me scratching my head,, too swift to be
===caught & they arent caught on the filter intake.
===where do they go????
=== I WISH I took pictures of them when I bought them, than I could be sure of
===what I have!
===


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
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