Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations I have babies! From month old fish...

I picked up my BG/RES/FHM minnows a month ago and I've got babies already!

Someone mentioned that they were probably older, stunted fish, when I mentioned they were nesting at 2 weeks. But, who cares! Being stunted isn't in their genes, their progeny should do fine.

The reason I know this is today we bought about 50 goldfish to throw in the pond for the wife to have something to see when she walks around (she knows that once the bass arrive their life expectancy is not very long) . We dumped the goldfish in and lo and behold, there they were... LITTLE tiny things, 1/4-1/2" long swimming in a school of about 40. But wait...what's that over there, more fish, about 3/4" long swimming in smaller groups. Well, well, well...

So, there you have it, a month since stocking and I have little ones.

BTW, there is NO WAY that these are "native fish", this is a pond dug out of a field, there are no streams around...

Joe,

Could they be FHM babies? They could have been carrying eggs when you stocked them.

I don't really know. All I do know is that I have fish that have been in the pond about a month, some have made nice round nests and are guarding them, and there are a bunch of very young fish.

How long does it take from nest building to fish hatching?

My fish are all from 3-4" long (they've at least doubled in size) and they're starting to "round out" meaning they were slim, almost cigar shaped when I put them in and now they're more circular.

I'm pretty excited!

Now all I have to do is kill those damn blue herons! They're wiley little suckers. They have good eyes AND ears, it's hard to sneak up on them for a good shot.