A pleasant surprise
 

About five years ago I dug a relatively small pond on our property. Things
have been very typical and uneventful since I put it in. We have had the
green water spells, the string algae blooms, and a lot of great times just
sitting and admiring it. Since we are in zone 5 I have to replace a fair
amount of the non-hardy plants each year which, given the pleasure the pond
gives us in no big deal. But this year I decided it was time to completely
drain it and remove all of the sludge from the bottom. You know, give it a
real good cleaning and sprucing up. Rplace the lost plants, repott and
groom/thin out the others and all. But to my suprise, when the pond was
about a third empty a single four inch orange and black fish (koi/goldfish)
appeared!

The reason this is so surprising is that I never had put fish in the pond!
I am assuming that it has only been there since last summer, but I have no
clue as to how it got in there. Was there an egg or perhaps a fry mixed in
with something I planted? To me, this is absolutely incredible! With no
extra work, support or preeration I now have fish!

My only concern is that now I feel bad for the little fellow and I guess I
will put two or three more in there to keep him company. And I will have to
feed them. And I will have to worry about them overwintering. And if fish
are as addictive as other posts indicate, or even worse, half as addictive
as ponding I am really in trouble! This is great!

-- Carl

A pleasant surprise
 

Carl wrote Was there an egg or perhaps a fry mixed in
with something I planted?

Yup! :-)

I once bought a whole bunch of anacharis to feed
a tankful of tadpoles in a second grade classroom.
The tadpoles came from the teacher's parents' pool cover.
One day the kids were astonished to find a tiny baby fish in the midst of them.
We named the fish 'Egghead'.


k30a

A pleasant surprise
 

Carl, If you have already named this fish (be honest) your addicted.


"Carl Koop" wrote in message
...
About five years ago I dug a relatively small pond on our property.
Things
have been very typical and uneventful since I put it in. We have had the
green water spells, the string algae blooms, and a lot of great times just
sitting and admiring it. Since we are in zone 5 I have to replace a fair
amount of the non-hardy plants each year which, given the pleasure the
pond
gives us in no big deal. But this year I decided it was time to
completely
drain it and remove all of the sludge from the bottom. You know, give it
a
real good cleaning and sprucing up. Rplace the lost plants, repott and
groom/thin out the others and all. But to my suprise, when the pond was
about a third empty a single four inch orange and black fish
(koi/goldfish)
appeared!

The reason this is so surprising is that I never had put fish in the pond!
I am assuming that it has only been there since last summer, but I have no
clue as to how it got in there. Was there an egg or perhaps a fry mixed
in
with something I planted? To me, this is absolutely incredible! With no
extra work, support or preeration I now have fish!

My only concern is that now I feel bad for the little fellow and I guess I
will put two or three more in there to keep him company. And I will have
to
feed them. And I will have to worry about them overwintering. And if
fish
are as addictive as other posts indicate, or even worse, half as addictive
as ponding I am really in trouble! This is great!

-- Carl

A pleasant surprise
 

Carl Koop wrote:
About five years ago I dug a relatively small pond on our property. Things
have been very typical and uneventful since I put it in. We have had the
green water spells, the string algae blooms, and a lot of great times just
sitting and admiring it. Since we are in zone 5 I have to replace a fair
amount of the non-hardy plants each year which, given the pleasure the pond
gives us in no big deal. But this year I decided it was time to completely
drain it and remove all of the sludge from the bottom. You know, give it a
real good cleaning and sprucing up. Rplace the lost plants, repott and
groom/thin out the others and all. But to my suprise, when the pond was
about a third empty a single four inch orange and black fish (koi/goldfish)
appeared!

The reason this is so surprising is that I never had put fish in the pond!
I am assuming that it has only been there since last summer, but I have no
clue as to how it got in there. Was there an egg or perhaps a fry mixed in
with something I planted? To me, this is absolutely incredible! With no
extra work, support or preeration I now have fish!

My only concern is that now I feel bad for the little fellow and I guess I
will put two or three more in there to keep him company. And I will have to
feed them. And I will have to worry about them overwintering. And if fish
are as addictive as other posts indicate, or even worse, half as addictive
as ponding I am really in trouble! This is great!

-- Carl





Hi Carl,

I once bought some plants from a ponder in Texas. She
shipped them to me and when they arrived I placed them in a
large brandy snifter until I got around to planting
properly. Before I knew it, I had baby fantails swimming in
the snifter. She had been trying to breed the fish and then
ended up sending the eggs to me on a plant.

--
Bonnie
NJ
http://home.earthlink.net/~maebe43/

A pleasant surprise
 

Well, the 'miracle' fish now has several, four in fact, companions. From my
description of shape, color, and size the woman at the pond store believes
that it is a one year old goldfish that most likely arrived as an egg on one
of the plants I purchased last year.

-- Carl

A pleasant surprise
 

Congrats! Now you don't have to buy him a friend! Talk about serendipity!

Before, you lived in ignorant bliss (didn't think you had fish) - now you
know you have them, and there's a whole new world of knowledge to learn
(double edged sword)! Have fun with them!!!

Lee

"Carl Koop" wrote in message
...
Well, the 'miracle' fish now has several, four in fact, companions. From
my
description of shape, color, and size the woman at the pond store believes
that it is a one year old goldfish that most likely arrived as an egg on
one
of the plants I purchased last year.

-- Carl

A pleasant surprise
 

Awesome! I lost the entire livestock in my pond this winter due to
freezing.....frogs fish and snails....last week a couple snails crawled
along....and I tossed in a couple of fish the other day.....so what a lovely
surprise you had!

Maureen in Phila