Life is Full of Surprises.

Every now and then, life throws you a curve just to let you know it's not predictable and you don't know everything.

This is how it happened to me today. Out in the garden standing next to our goldfish pond - a small affair I built back in 2018, and populated it with six goldfish, some plants, including a water lily and some oxygenators (under water grasses) to keep the the O2 levels up and filter out other components from the water.

The images above are the 'before' and 'after'. All was going beautifully. The fish were happy and doing well, even to the point of becoming very hand-tame, swimming to the surface each time I placed my hand near. I thought it was for food, but even after feeding, the fish would follow my hand if I moved it through the water, some even swimming between my fingers and onto my palm. Amazing fish.

Then one vanished over night. No clue how, when or where. Just gone. A week later a second fish vanished in similar fashion. I was gutted. Following this, over a period of a month, the remaining fish became ill, dying one-by-one to some kind of fungal infection. No matter what I tried, it failed.

Soon enough all fish had perished. I had a theory. Birds. Birds would use the shallow area of the pond as one huge bird bath. Problem being they also used it as a toilet. And I think the fish picked up something from the birds bathing in the water, be it from their feathers, or their droppings. Which ever way, I suspected the birds had somehow infected my pond.

So I left the pond void of fish, feeling pissed off and annoyed at myself for not netting over the pond from the very beginning.

Fast forward to the present.

I have repopulated the pond. Six more goldfish, again of different types: Shubunkin, Toledo and Common - one of each, and three Canary Yellows.

They have survived their first winter, and as the temperature began rising and my feeding them increased, they started the mating ritual of 'chase and bump'. Basically the males will chase a female who is fat with eggs, bumping into them, in an attempt to get the female to drop her eggs. When this happens the males will fertilise the eggs, which then drift and stick to plant surfaces, such as leaves.

Goldfish have zero parental instincts toward their eggs and will consume them if given the chance. This also applies to the baby goldfish hatchling (otherwise know as 'fry'). Those babies that survive will eventually turn a black-brown colour in order to camouflage themselves from predators - including their parents. At a certain age point, these babies will begin to change colour again, into a recognisable goldfish colour format.

So imagine my utter surprise when I spot two black fish, about 2.5 inches in length (5cm), feeding with the adults, as I sprinkle fish food onto the pond surface. I thought I had seen 'something' darting through the water a couple of days back, but due to the netting I now have covering the pond, I couldn't be sure.

UPDATE: it's the day after this original posting and sighting of the two baby goldfish. So I placed my GoPro into the pond and let it film a feeding session. Turns out I have SEVEN baby goldfish. Could be more, so hard to tell.

But it's now official. The pond has babies. If there are only two, that's still amazing, but also sad. A goldfish can lay anything from 500 - 1000 eggs. I would imagine the pond pump might be to blame for the demise of some of these fry, but amongst the pond weed and the water lilies it would have been nigh-on impossible for me to see anything.
You never know, there might be other babies still lurking below which I haven't clapped eyes upon?
My only concern is will they survive the winter? My second concern is, do I keep them, and if so, when do I make the pond bigger and deeper?

I'm glad this has happened as it confirms that the pond is in a very healthy state. I've also got pond snails living in it, helping to clean up the algae growing on the sides of the pond liner. The pond also had a temporary resident in the form of a frog (in the picture below), which has since upped and left, as is their want.

Copyright ©. 2021 Mark Kelly.

And now, as is my want, I shall leave you with a music video of some relaxing meditation ambient drone, with some absolutely stunning scenery recorded in ultra HD quality. So sit back or lay back, close those eyes (if you so choose) and relax.

Until next time.