Baby Pond Fish in Pennsylvania

If you have fish in your pond, sooner or later they are going to have babies if all the right water quality balances are in place i.e. if you have poor water quality, your fish may not be the healthiest to have babies of their own. Late spring/early summer usually marks the time of year when koi and goldfish start to spawn.

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Spawning:

Fish spawn tends to look like soap bubbles or foam on top of the pond. You may also notice your pond fish acting differently than usual-- rubbing against each other aggressively and chasing each other around the pond. When koi and goldfish spawn, they produce thousands of eggs but very few actually survive and grow up into baby fish. Often times, but by accident, other fish in the pond end up eating the fish eggs---especially curious koi, as they are always nosing around the pond looking for things to nibble on.

Feeding Baby Fish

The eggs hatch a few days at a microscopic size, taking a few weeks to grow big enough for you to notice that they exist at all. At this stage in development, the baby fish survive by feeding off of different microorganisms in your pond and you don't need to worry about feeding them yourself--let nature take it's course. Baby fish can grow up to an inch long in a couple months if the water quality remains healthy and they are able to find enough food in your pond. At this size, they may start eating commercial food if it is crushed up for them. Fish food that is high in protein content can help bulk them up in size quicker than the microorganisms in the pond will. Growing them quickly is helpful when it comes to the overwintering practices in the Lebanon County, Lebanon Pennsylvania area.

Overwintering baby fish

The size of the fish by the end of summer is important to know as you begin to consider over-Wintering plans for your new babies. If you decide to let them over-winter outside, they may or may not survive, especially if they don’t have enough fat reserve to tide them over. If you don't want to chance their survival and they decide to bring them inside, make sure you have a large enough tank with adequate filtration because they will continue to grow inside over Winter.
Another thing to remember is that if your pond babies continue to survive year after year, sooner or later they are going to get big and could overcrowd your pond. It is important to know and stick to your magic "fish number" of how many fish your pond can comfortable house without compromising the health of the entire ecosystem.  If you plan on keeping some of the babies, understand that eventually you may have to get rid of some of them so to ensure you don't compromise the all of the fish.

Watching the baby fish grow up is fun and the whole process is a great learning experience for kids and adults, alike.

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So Now What?

For more information on koi pond fish, please contact us directly!

Dreamscapes carries a full line of pond supplies from water treatments and fish medications to pond pumps, heaters, fountains, plants and fish! If you think you need it, we have it!

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