Baby GFs!

[GarryT]

My second year as a ponder and was happy to see baby goldfish in amongst the water lettuce. So far the few that I have been able to see are about an inch long but have little colour (grey/ brown). Do the colours develop as they mature? I've got 7 adult (about 4 - 5 inches) GF, a mix of orange & calico fantails and a pair of shubunkins. The youngsters appear have the single shubunkin type tail so I'm not sure who did what (OK, I know what) with who so the youngsters could be real "mutts". 

I noticed another spawn a couple of weeks ago, tiny 1/4" long fry amongst the plants but have not seen any intermediate size fish from that batch since so they either all expired naturally or became snacks for the adults. :'( Perhaps some may have survived in the water lettuce but have proved too hard to spot.  Fall clean out should provide some interesting surprises!

[lvponder]

My goldfish babies are always dark gray until they hit about 1.5 inch, then their colors start coming out.  Sometimes they are a good 3 or 4 inches before all the black leaves.  I am usually disappointed that all the black leaves, sometimes the black markings are so cute.  Good luck.

[greenthumbnails]

Can you get pics? 

[GarryT]

I'll try to get some pics this weekend ....the little guys are pretty ellusive & I have LOTS of water lettuce this year. I've been giving away about 2 square feet of plants on a weekly basis to other local ponders and at that barely keeping enough surface area open for the lilies and to feed the fish. This morning I grabbed a bunch for another donation and looked closely at the bottom of the bucket only to find yet another batch of 1/4" long fry swimming around that had been caught up in the plants. And THEY were at it again thrashing about in the plants. Sheesh!

We've only got maybe 2 more months of ponding season left here until we have to move everyone indoors for the winter so hopefully those youngsters that survive are big enough to be caught and transferred to the winter tank. I'm really looking forward to see what the little guys turn out to be and it's encouraging to hear that they may get colour as they mature.