young comets spawning?

[LynneNY]

I have 15 comet feeder fish - the 27 cent PetSmart size that I bought over the past 2 weeks.  The past 2 days I have seen some of the jumping up into the bottom of the waterfall in our pond, and acting crazy.  I was wondering at what age do comets spawn?  Are these fish too young to be doing that?  Is something else going on?  Anyone have experience with this behavior in younger/smaller comets?

[ThornyGardener]

Comets aren't usually mature until about 7". If your water parameters are good and they are not leaping to find the pond with the cleaner, more oxygenated water, your fish probably have parasites and are 'scratching' themselves in the current. Fish meant as feeders are grown in deplorable conditions and are diseased balls with fins, especially from big-box pet stores. It will be wise not to introduce any new fish to your pond until you know these fish are healthy.

15 is quite a lot anyway. In a year, six 3" comets grew to 12" and produced a thousand fry in my pond -- I cannot imagine the spawn from 15 comets.    Unlike koi who spawn once or maybe twice a year, comets spawn every couple of weeks.

Also if you have a new pond, fish need to be added gradually while the filter cycles and is mature to handle the increased fish load.

[ThornyGardener]

I just found and read your post about your pond. A couple of more thoughts:

Please consider creating a QT in your basement -- at least 150 gallons. Keep 2 known-healthy comets in there to keep the filter cycled. All new fish must spend a month in QT. If you are not up to scraping and scoping, do a shotgun treatment on everybody in the QT. (My canary comets are probably brain damaged from all the parasite treatments they get, poor dears.) Don't add new fish to QT during this time. The QT will also be invaluable when you need to bring in a sick fish for treatment. Last November a 14" koi ripped a dragon scale. Without a warm QT in which to spend the winter, this cold blooded creature would not have been able to heal, died and contaminated the water for the others.

Keep your stocking rate lower than you may like. 3000 gallons: 18 comets OR 6 koi total max (substitute 3 comets for 1 koi) but be prepared to do ruthless comet fry culling next year. (Walmart minnow trap.) I know your fish are small now but they will grow fast, make lots of poo which you will have to spend much time cleaning up, you'll get tired of all this maintenance, slack off, they'll get sick, start dying, you'll get frustrated, give up and all that money and effort is down drain. Then every time after that whenever you and your husband have a disagreement THAT POND OF YOURS will work its way into the conversation. A properly stocked pond is so much less expensive than a divorce attorney. 

[SueSTx]

Disclaimer:  I know nothing about raising fish...I'm in it for the plants.

I put about 10 or 12  2" to 3" babies from last year (decendents of WalMart feeders the oldest being 7 years old) in a lily tank by themselves...no older fish, fresh water there hadn't been any other fish in there.  They spawned nearly immediately.  I have new fry of several sizes in another tank...and yes they spawn continually it seems.

My seven year old fish are over a foot long including their tails.  These fish were at least 2 probably 3 years old before there were any fry that I saw.


I have never introduced new fish that weren't in QT for over a year.  I have never treated with anything and have never lost any (knock on wood) other than fry.  I HAVE BEEN VERY LUCKY.  I only have WalMart fish.  They do fine for "skeeter control".

 



Enjoy your fish.

[LynneNY]

WOW!  So much to digest!

From marital advice  , to setting up an indoor QT - not possible because our basement is fully finished, plus we have 6 very inquisitive indoor cats - to parasites on fish that are diseased balls with fins  !!!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

The reason I put so many in, was that with our history, I wasn't sure that most of them would make it.  If need be, I can take some out and give them away.  I do have a place for them to go if that should have to happen.

I guess I should have phrased my main question clearer.
What is the YOUNGEST age that feeder comets might spawn?


It's ok if no one knows the correct answer - just thought I'd give it a try.

[GarryT]

My comets and/or shubunkins spawned the second summer at around 4-5" in length including the tail. We have a relatively short pond season here, typically late May through late October at which time they head indoors for winter due to our very cold (-35 F) winter spells. I started with 5 - 3" GF and after 2 seasons have a total of 15 while just letting nature take it's course as far as survival of the babies are concerned. Many of the late spawn last year didn't make it as water temperatures dropped, they were just too small at that time to catch and would have ended up as fish food in the relatively smaller confines of the winter tank. The smallest that I managed to transfer was only about 3/4 of an inch long & it made it through to the summer pond this year although he (she?) is still the runt of the litter compared to the much bigger brothers & sisters from earlier spawnings. They are quite prolific and I would guess that there were at least 4 or 5 spawns from June to September. I actually didn't notice any babies until I was thinning out the water lettuce for a fellow ponder and found tiny (1/4") babies in the bottom of the bowl with the plants that I had pulled. A very pleasant surprise!

[miguynmkoi]

Late last summer I discovered baby shubunkins in my lily pond. This summer they are in the "chase".  When I caught these babies, about 2" long, they appear to be males because of all the tubercles on their gill plates and along their front of the front fins.  I don't know if they actually know what they are doing but they sure look like they are in the chase.

[LynneNY]

Just a quick follow-up... not sure if they were spawning or not, but we have lost 5 fish already.  Three died yesterday - 2 weeks after having put them in.  I posted up in pond chat wondering if putting an ABS pipe in the pond could have somehow made them sick, because that was the only change we've made to the pond since putting the fish in, aside from also putting 2 UV lights in the skimmer.

Another fish swam into the skimmer this evening - we saw him do it, and didn't come out.  My husband opened the skimmer and saw him in there alive, and then he disappeared - didn't come out into the pond, yet wasn't in the basket when he raised it.  So I'm probably going to have to count him among the dead ones soon.  That will then leave 10 of the original 16, and THAT is why I put so many in, in the first place.  My hunch was that all of them would not make it.

[Amy]

I am FAR from an expert but my goldfish were about the size of a females hand before I found babies in my pond......mine were also petsmart feeders when I got them!

[reptilegrrl]

Just a note- while feeders from many stores, like say PetCo, are kept in filthy conditions, the "feeder comets" at PetSmart are kept in the same water supply as all the other fish.  So they are typically healthy.  PetSmart stores have one big filtration system for all the freshwater fish, and the same water circulates through all the tanks.  If the feeders were sick, all the other fish would be sick too.

[Kittyzee]

I am far from a fish expert, but like some have stated above, my comets were breeding and producing offspring at around 3" size.  Many never make it since they eat them and if you have lots of cover you may not see them for a long time either. 

[LynneNY]

Thanks again for all the information, and for sharing all your experiences.  The remaining 11 have been doing well so far.  They have become inquisitive - coming up to the net when I'm fishing some debris out, and have more than doubled in size already!

No sign of any fry yet, and we haven't seen the two 5 inch koi that overwintered last year either, since early spring.  I'm thinking that some critter must have gotten them a while ago.  My husband checked all the hiding places that we could think of, and they have never come up for any food while the comets eat either.

[SueSTx]

Glad to hear that your remaining are doing well.

Things can happen unepectedly.  I lost my first fish in 7 years this week.  Apparently the tank was short of oxygen.  No idea why nothing had changed.  I haven't lost any others yet.  The fish in the pic that I posted is the one that died.

[LynneNY]

Awwwww Sue, I'm so sorry! :'(
I was just looking at that picture again last night and marveling at that beautiful tail!