Perspective

These pictures capture the sizes of the three generations in the main pond. There are perhaps 20 - 30 fry living happily among their parents. We generally see 10 - 14 at a time, but have to image there are many we can't see.

Above, the fry are in the lower right of the picture. The blue and the white are the parents' generation and the other four are three years old.

On the left, the fry are in the lower right center just below the rocks. On the right - they are more centered.

Dwindling numbers - but good lookin' kids - Week six

The colors are more pronounced and it's fun to see them develop. We are especially excited to see a red-head (Showa) in the picture on the right - we would like to add another good looking showa to our pet group - but so far, have not had much success.

We are worried about numbers - the babies seem to be dying more quickly and in greater numbers than we'd expected. I did some research and we are worried that our use of dry fish food may be poluting the water more than the fry can handle. We've stopped giving them powdered dry fish food. They now get shrimp or egg yolk until they get bigger. In the picture below, they are enjoying a summer shrimp cocktail.

Other theories - the more fish die, the more pollution in the water creating a cycle. OR - too many surface plants cutting oxygen to the water. We did remove many of the water hyaciths to give them more water serface. They have a waterfall and a fountain, so should have plenty of air.

More next week!

The Elders

A few pictures of the elders playing in the waterfall. This is a preview of what the babies will look like. In the above picture, the eldest is upper left - black with a yellow head - a male. The other male is the large white with black spots upper right. The laying females are the red-head (right side), and the all gold butterfly and the blue (lower left - blue above gold.) The smaller fish in the picture are the three year olds born in the pond.

The frog? Just a friend.

Playing in the waterfall. Altogether, we have 14 fish in the main pond (not counting at least 20 of this year's generation hiding under the rocks.)

Week Six - Earning Names

Above you see red dots - that is crushed koi food. The white blotches are boiled egg yolk - the fish love their protein!


The biggest fish are two inches long and are starting to earn names. In this picture, you can see "Rudolf" on the right (bright nose), and Samurai Jr. near the top (black with yellow head - named after his father.) The orange ones are mostly named "Sunny" and the black ones are mostly called "Ninja." The multi-colored fish are named "Spot." We'll see how the grow.


Above you see three black fish and four yellow fish each about 1 1/2 - 2 inches long.



A good view of the size differences. The smallest ones just aren't growing as fast or strongly as the larger ones. The small ones are dying off - we can tell the population is dwindling. The strongest ones will survive. They have to be strong to survive a New England winter.

Week Five - how they grow.

Thelma guards the baby pond against preditors.

You can see how some are growing way more significantly than others.

We fed them shrimp for breakfast - they LOVED it!

This is a good picture of the biggest of the bunch - enjoying breakfast. We also see some color variations. We still haven't seen any red, but we're optimistic when we see the mottled black. Red will be the last color to develop.

Week Four

We got some good shots today - it is so sunny out it is hard to believe we are expecting thunderstorms.

We can already see quite a variety of sizes and some colors too! We have a few fish that are almost two inches long....but they are quick (and smart) and we didn't get pictures. The biggest ones in these pictures are just over an inch long.

You can see two black ones and four or more white ones in this picture.

Black w yellow head on the bottom. Also near the bottom, you see a few very small fish.

You can see a black fish with yellow head in the bottom of this picture.

And in the right hand picture, you can see a spotted fish. We don't know if he will develop any red (hi), but we know he'll be fun to watch as he does develop.

Here we have four distinct sizes and three colors. There is a black one with a yellow head at the bottom.

This one highlights the various sizes we see. The big one here is about one and one quarter inches long.

Week Four - seeing colors

Sunny morning so we were able to get some great pictures. The babies are growing at varying rates and we can see some colors! We did spot three that measured nearly two inches, but the norm right now is less than one inch, though the variety is stricking.

Week three (two) July 3

You can already see that some fish are growing faster and developing color. Here is a picture of 'Tiger', 'Goldie' and 'Spot',

The other 900 are still named 'Nemo.' Feel free to make suggestions to name the Nemos.