The story begins with mosquitoes. The one time it has really rained here in the last year, all this water pooled up in the empty pre-formed pond shell that was here when we moved in. In a short time, mosquitoes and mosquito larvae — especially the larvae — abounded in what seemed like seconds after the rain. Either I had to use chemicals or clean up the pre-pond arena (pond receptacle?) It was early December and cold (for SoCal); nevertheless, I decided to clean up and pond up immediately.
Once I added water, pebbles, a small flagstone fish hideway, two oxygenator plants and a handful of water lettuce, I introduced two Calico Fantail Goldfish, Mason and Lil Q-bert, and seven minnow type guys that eat mosquito larvae before they can mature, hatch, and chow own on mine own blood. They were pretty much freaked out (new, empty, exposed surroundings) and hibernating (cold air, cold water — we almost had a frost or two). At the end of December, we hadn't seen Q-bert in so long that we were convinced he was a gonner — probably a raccoon or skunk casualty. It made me so sad to think poor slow-mo Mason was all alone (by this time all the water lettuce had "passed away") that I introduced Bing (named for the Christmasy Crosby) and Jean-Pierre. It wasn't until about a month later, when it started getting springy, that Lil Q-bert reappeared.
(Above: Also May fifth. Note Bing's asymmetrical "hips." Goldfish ovaries fill with eggs one at a time. When I took this picture, I didn't know anything about Goldfish gender or reproduction. I'd noticed the mating behavior called "chasing" but thought it was just play. Jean-Pierre and Q-bert are usually the aggressors in chasing, suggesting their maleness. Q-bert still chases Bing quite a bit.)
Since December, I've added plants whenever prudent and possible, and the fish (and snails, another story) are thriving — perhaps with excessive enthusiasm. It was beyond me until recently to determine the gender of my fish, but it seems that Q-bert and Jean-Pierre are male while Bing is female and Mason is a hermaphrodite. (Kidding. I don't know about Mason. Without taking him/her out of the pond, I can't be so sure.)
Between one and two weeks ago, I first noticed fry. Because they were skinny (almost invisible and about a quarter-inch long) and dark gray, I figured they were baby mosquito fish, but within a few days, they started chubbing up. Fan tails were visible on several of them. Today's pictures show the fry at a maximum of three-quarters of an inch and displaying calico coloring. About half have flat tails, but websites say that most fry are not "true to breed." (One site said that about 90% of koi are weeded out before sold to consumers for this reason.) I don't care about breed "purity" or "truth" in fish any more than I do in cats, horses, dogs or people.
Above: Today, two fry (fries?) with Lil Q-Bert's side in the background. (The smaller guy is about one-half inch while Q-bert is about 5 inches long.)
Above: Closer up. See the calico coloring starting to develop.
Above: Little fantail fellow with two-inch lily pads for scale. Notice the same lily pads in the pond overview picture at the beginning of this post.
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