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Our Finny Friends 2012
Have just discovered more eggs in the fish pond, which might explain a few things.
Last year I found what I thought to be eggs on the side of the pump housing; later two baby fish were sighted. Sadly, logic does not decree that these eggs produced these fish. I'm pretty sure they were eggs of some sort, for I later found them burst, and indeed this was on the same day I sighted the baby fish, but that is merely circumstantial evidence m'lud.
Today I found more eggs, many more eggs. They look much as I recall last year's eggs looked - yellowish and laid in a flat cluster with a negligible jelly layer, but would the jury please note that human memory is staggeringly unreliable. The interesting thing about these eggs is that I found them under a floating non-water-lilly-but-you-get-the-idea leaf. I was actually looking for a snail at the time. The snail owed me money, but that's another story (have you ever tried to kneecap a snail? Tricky.)
The leaf location may answer the question of why out of a population of 15 minnows with at least half a dozen obviously fecund females, only two babies were hatched: those leaves and their eggs were doomed. In a not unreasonable habit of pond maintenance I habitually remove dead vegetation. It seems likely that in the past I've thrown the fish babies out with the bathwater. Oops.
It is still possible that I've merely rid the world of a few dozen snail babies, but my picean maternal instincts insist that these are indeed of the vertebrate persuasion. So, I did what I've done before: I've harvested the caviar and set up an indoor nursery. I hedged my bets and didn't remove all the eggs I found under leaves (for there were many once I started looking), and I'll try to remember to check dead leaves before I remove them from the pond in future.
Yes, I've done this before. Some 10 years ago I had goldfish (I didn't appreciate that they were evil frog enemies then, sorry) who were so happy in their organic garden pond environment they chose to get down and party without protection. It was also a chance to sex my fish - boy fish become very aggressive; girls acquire white spots. The eggs I brought inside to observe hatched within a week in the warmer conditions. Plenty also hatched in the pond in later weeks. Many of these wild-hatched fry didn't make it home from family gatherings, which obviously suffered from insufficient catering.
Eventually I created a safe house out of shade cloth so at least some of the young could shelter there. When the indoor fish matured to the point that they were opaque and starting to show markings, I released them into the protected area as well. Once they got beyond obvious mouthful size I let them join the general population. It was *huge* fun. BTW only a small proportion of the goldfish young actually inherited orange, white, and/or black colouring. Most of them were a sort of muddy bronze I imagine resembled the source stock.
The minnows won't give me this kind of interesting genetic info, but this time I have a microscope and can at least have a close look at the eggs.
Last year I found what I thought to be eggs on the side of the pump housing; later two baby fish were sighted. Sadly, logic does not decree that these eggs produced these fish. I'm pretty sure they were eggs of some sort, for I later found them burst, and indeed this was on the same day I sighted the baby fish, but that is merely circumstantial evidence m'lud.
Today I found more eggs, many more eggs. They look much as I recall last year's eggs looked - yellowish and laid in a flat cluster with a negligible jelly layer, but would the jury please note that human memory is staggeringly unreliable. The interesting thing about these eggs is that I found them under a floating non-water-lilly-but-you-get-the-idea leaf. I was actually looking for a snail at the time. The snail owed me money, but that's another story (have you ever tried to kneecap a snail? Tricky.)
The leaf location may answer the question of why out of a population of 15 minnows with at least half a dozen obviously fecund females, only two babies were hatched: those leaves and their eggs were doomed. In a not unreasonable habit of pond maintenance I habitually remove dead vegetation. It seems likely that in the past I've thrown the fish babies out with the bathwater. Oops.
It is still possible that I've merely rid the world of a few dozen snail babies, but my picean maternal instincts insist that these are indeed of the vertebrate persuasion. So, I did what I've done before: I've harvested the caviar and set up an indoor nursery. I hedged my bets and didn't remove all the eggs I found under leaves (for there were many once I started looking), and I'll try to remember to check dead leaves before I remove them from the pond in future.
Yes, I've done this before. Some 10 years ago I had goldfish (I didn't appreciate that they were evil frog enemies then, sorry) who were so happy in their organic garden pond environment they chose to get down and party without protection. It was also a chance to sex my fish - boy fish become very aggressive; girls acquire white spots. The eggs I brought inside to observe hatched within a week in the warmer conditions. Plenty also hatched in the pond in later weeks. Many of these wild-hatched fry didn't make it home from family gatherings, which obviously suffered from insufficient catering.
Eventually I created a safe house out of shade cloth so at least some of the young could shelter there. When the indoor fish matured to the point that they were opaque and starting to show markings, I released them into the protected area as well. Once they got beyond obvious mouthful size I let them join the general population. It was *huge* fun. BTW only a small proportion of the goldfish young actually inherited orange, white, and/or black colouring. Most of them were a sort of muddy bronze I imagine resembled the source stock.
The minnows won't give me this kind of interesting genetic info, but this time I have a microscope and can at least have a close look at the eggs.
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