***The Pond Discussion Thread****

[beachBOYken]

Hey look like hybrids - carp/goldfish/orf. The shoulder is quite koi/carp like.

Quite often a mix is introduced, they breed and you get the longer life with what appears to be goldfish features and the original goldfish parent dies off or is taken by a predator.

Black is often the outcome of spawning - the reason you don’t see that in koi is due to the selective process. The less desired colours combinations, forms and black end up as fish meal.
Each quality koi is the result of 1000s or even 10000s to one survival/culling more when you consider lineage.
Natural spawn/selection ends up less genetically stressed so hybrids will last longer than imposed selection stress.

Although having said that the longest living goldfish was 43 years!

Yeah they have been spawning the last few years in the summer when we have noticed, they go into this frenzy lots of splashing

Talking of predators, we did have 15-20 at one time and lots of frogs, the latter have vanished altogether the past few years, our garden and pond was a frog haven at one point.

Thanks for the help, I will pass this info on to my dad.