Pond fish videos - any post not containing a video will be removed.

Post by **MrBushy** » May 6th, 2019, 1:43 am

You have some lovely fish, how many in your pond? I see that nosey Koi is prominent in all your videos & that black Goldfish at 3:11 has some serious tubercles. Here are a couple more videos of my pond from last month, you will see Mrs Tench still hasn't got the camera out of her system but she's being a bit more subtle about it now. Also of note, my mechanical fish making sporadic appearances is the middle of three young Shubunkins born in 2017. I think she may have a fused vertebrae in her spine or tail because her swimming attitude is slightly head-up & between sessions she spends time sitting in her favorite spot at the bottom, doesn't appear to affect her & is otherwise a normal little fish.

https://vimeo.com/334089702.

https://vimeo.com/334318483.

Finally a short clip of 4 week old baby Comets from two of my tank fish. Very excited because I've never been successful with fry before. I took this during a water change hence the filters not running.

https://vimeo.com/334325369.

These are the parents:
Mum

Dad

By chance I was at a pond on Saturday with another variant of the three pronged tail fish, this time a Sarassa Comet of which I got plenty of footage. I've used up my weekly video upload allowance & I'm far too mean to pay for more so will post it in a few days.

Post by **davidmq** » May 6th, 2019, 7:27 pm

MrBushy wrote: ↑
April 30th, 2019, 12:17 pm
Hi David, yes-looking good, thanks for updating us & apologies for my late response. They have grown noticeably since your last update & their bright colours are really starting to pop. I've taken several videos in the last few weeks including a couple of my Cousin's little pond in Milton Keynes. They are only small fish but look massive here & are very intrigued with the camera, note two of them have three-pronged-tails, a white one in the first clip & a dark brown one in the second:

MrBushy, great videos

On the first video at 1.04 the spots around the fish's eye, what are they? Is the three pronged tail a mutation?

Here are a couple more videos, I will try and upload a few more before I head off!

https://vimeo.com/334489186.

https://vimeo.com/334460946.

Post by **davidmq** » May 6th, 2019, 8:13 pm

shiffy wrote: ↑
May 1st, 2019, 10:54 pm
Hi David & MrBushy, I've just been enjoying your most recent content. MrBushy, I found your video with the 3 prong-tailed fish especially interesting. I've honestly never seen this before in large goldfish, as you know I've currently got one small one with a "tri-tail". It's as if the extra part of the tail of the fish in your video is surplus to requirements .... almost like an extra finger or other small oddities that occur in human births. It gives me some idea of my fish might end up looking like. And David, if you ever .... no ..... when you get fry from your shubs I wouldn't mind having some! In my eyes those are some really nice shubs and would like some of their lineage in my pond!

I have recorded some footage recently. Nothing as terribly exciting as a torpedo shub or a tench that wants to eat the camera (I liked that, never seen that behavior in a tench before!) but I thought I'd upload them anyway. One video that I wasn't going to upload here but have decided to anyway is the short video above water showing how excitable my carp are whenever I go near the pond. The second & third videos are the usual underwater affair. I never intended to film for as long as I did, I got caught on a lengthy phonecall, and it ended up being over an hour long. I'vde split it into two videos. It shows how they behave when I'm not near the pond. They are constantly grazing on the bottom, anyone would think I never feed them!

Hey Shiffy, Love the videos, I feel rather understocked by comparison

The spots around the eyes on the first half hour video before you play, are those breeding spots? You will have to forgive my ignorance, but what are they grazing on? They seem to love it!

If or when there are fry, I guess there is a relatively short window before they are eaten? With fish, hungry newts and perhaps a frog (jumped in this morning whilst having a tidy up around the pond) is it likely any will survive natural predation? Ever since the newts turned up a few years ago the frogs vanished, so we shall see if it or they stay around? Happy to share some fry if I get some!

https://vimeo.com/333767424.

https://vimeo.com/334497150.

Post by **shiffy** » May 7th, 2019, 12:12 pm

MrBushy wrote: ↑
May 6th, 2019, 1:43 am
You have some lovely fish, how many in your pond? I see that nosey Koi is prominent in all your videos & that black Goldfish at 3:11 has some serious tubercles. Here are a couple more videos of my pond from last month, you will see Mrs Tench still hasn't got the camera out of her system but she's being a bit more subtle about it now. Also of note, my mechanical fish making sporadic appearances is the middle of three young Shubunkins born in 2017. I think she may have a fused vertebrae in her spine or tail because her swimming attitude is slightly head-up & between sessions she spends time sitting in her favorite spot at the bottom, doesn't appear to affect her & is otherwise a normal little fish.

Thank you MrBushy. To be honest I don't actually kniow how many are in there. I'm going to say "too many"! There's 6 tench, 10 carp, and an estimate of around 30 goldfish .... it would be impossible to count them in situ.

davidmq wrote: ↑
May 6th, 2019, 8:13 pm
Hey Shiffy, Love the videos, I feel rather understocked by comparison The spots around the eyes on the first half hour video before you play, are those breeding spots? You will have to forgive my ignorance, but what are they grazing on? They seem to love it!

If or when there are fry, I guess there is a relatively short window before they are eaten? With fish, hungry newts and perhaps a frog (jumped in this morning whilst having a tidy up around the pond) is it likely any will survive natural predation? Ever since the newts turned up a few years ago the frogs vanished, so we shall see if it or they stay around? Happy to share some fry if I get some!

Thanks David. Believe me when I say I wish I had as many fish as you do! In all seriousness though it is bar better to be understocked than dealing with the number I have. The spots around the eyes of the male of the goldfish are tubercles. During breeding the males rub these against the females to encourage release of the eggs. What tends to happen is the fish will lay the eggs, then turn and eat the eggs. But as you've got so few fish I would expect a fair number of eggs to survive and hatch.
As the camera drops down into the bottom of the pond you'll see the green algae that has taken on a grass-like appearence. It's this that the fish are grazing on. I know a lot of fish keepers don't like having this & will call people in to remove it. I don't see it as an issue and is in fact benficial to the pond.

My latest offering from last night's filming. Focusing a bit more on my tench in the first video and how they stalk the pellets when they feed. They seem very selective. Also towards the end of the first video I'm sure one of my green tench comes to the surface to feed, seen above the big orange koi. The second video focuses specifically on the big orange koi, while doing a bit of maintenance was hovering around very close to me. With the camera still in easy reach I decided to film again. The second video also has my best showing yet of my Bristol Shubunkin and seems to have lost it shyness. Talking of Shubunkins I have done something very silly ..........

http://youtu.be/-dQRyrMs-64

http://youtu.be/8WHazRdlfEs

Post by **davidmq** » May 7th, 2019, 9:46 pm

Thanks David. Believe me when I say I wish I had as many fish as you do! In all seriousness though it is bar better to be understocked than dealing with the number I have. The spots around the eyes of the male of the goldfish are tubercles. During breeding the males rub these against the females to encourage release of the eggs. What tends to happen is the fish will lay the eggs, then turn and eat the eggs. But as you've got so few fish I would expect a fair number of eggs to survive and hatch.
As the camera drops down into the bottom of the pond you'll see the green algae that has taken on a grass-like appearence. It's this that the fish are grazing on. I know a lot of fish keepers don't like having this & will call people in to remove it. I don't see it as an issue and is in fact benficial to the pond.

My latest offering from last night's filming. Focusing a bit more on my tench in the first video and how they stalk the pellets when they feed. They seem very selective. Also towards the end of the first video I'm sure one of my green tench comes to the surface to feed, seen above the big orange koi. The second video focuses specifically on the big orange koi, while doing a bit of maintenance was hovering around very close to me. With the camera still in easy reach I decided to film again. The second video also has my best showing yet of my Bristol Shubunkin and seems to have lost it shyness. Talking of Shubunkins I have done something very silly ..........

Hey Shiffy,

I have just deleted my reply to you after typing for what seemed like an age!!! Here is a very condensed version! Shubunkins and something silly? Do tell more?

My final 3 videos for the next few weeks. The last video shows the newts and Shubunkins getting on well

https://vimeo.com/334755419.

https://vimeo.com/334743612.

https://vimeo.com/334743406.

Post by **MrBushy** » May 16th, 2019, 1:41 am

As promised here is the three-pronged tailed male Comet featured heavily in this 7 minute edit from a 20 minute movie in a small but deep pond I look after in Ilkeston, Derbyshire. In addition to the main subject there are various Tench, battle scarred black Goldfish, intrepid tadpoles, a one eyed fish & a ridiculous fish cavalcade especially for the camera. The one eyed fish is a large white & red female Comet who's left eye is normal while her right eye appears to have just developed as a blemish in the skin & doesn't look to be the result of injury. I've dealt with this pond for 9 years & have never seen some of these details before although I was aware of the tri-tail. His long flowing fins are almost Sarassa-like compared to the regular Comets & despite his unusual tail piece he gets around just fine. Another anomaly I spotted, if you stop-frame the movie at 1:32 on the left is an orange Comet who appears to have a shredded tail. On closer inpsection he has 3 symmetrical notches on both upper & lower sections of his tail-another variant. Apologies for the mucky water, I shot this after doing a big Spring clean with the pond vac although it does clear a little as the movie progresses.

https://vimeo.com/336230573.

Post by **shiffy** » May 26th, 2019, 8:07 pm

It's so interesting seeing all these variations and characteristics among goldfish. You're lucky to have access to so many ponds, MrBushey!

Here's womething I've been sitting on for a few weeks and relates to my earlier "something silly" comment. This is just a short snippet of a 20 minute video I took earlier today. There is another video I have on Youtube that I haven't linked here taken a day after I got them. I am going to release them into the pond in a short while and will put the camera in there tomorrow. The one with the diagonal black "facemask" coming down across it's face from left to right reminds me of someone, can anyone else see it?! It's this fish that I believe has a slight swim bladder issue. I'm taking a chance and releasing it into the pond as despite the slight issue I'm seeing (it's listing to one side) as it's feeding as well as the others.

I'm also going to release the other 3 goldfish from this tank into the pond, including tri-tail. It's not grown anywhere near as fast as the other two and my fears about it being outcompeted for food are coming to fruition. My thinking now is that it will find somewhere to hide among the roots of the rushes in the pond and will feed on algae and other small insect larvae that will be there in abundance.

http://youtu.be/kXvDaOPxsbk

Post by **shiffy** » May 28th, 2019, 10:00 pm

I'm pleased to say that the shubs appear to have settled in really well. Unlike the previous two which immediately went into hiding and took about a month before I saw them (with one sadly dying) these four are out in the open & feeding, mingling with the other fish. I'm aiming to breed these in the future. All the fish seem a little jumpier than normal on this occassion. Admittedly I was doing some work in the garden and stomping around, but I'm wondering if something has attempted to get into the pond and spooked them a bit. They are doing a good job of "mowing the grass" on the bottom of pond though, keeping the algae in check. The fact they graze on it the way they do is reason I never attempt to remove it! No wonder I haven't seen any string algae for a while, but also explains why the wine bags in the filter need emptying every couple of days! Very surprised to see a few tadpoles gatecrash the filming as well, surprising in the fact that the fish never ate all the frog / toad spawn & are even brave enough to venture into open water without being eaten!

These videos are taken at 3 different postitions in the pond, and the new shubs are fairly cooperative in appearing on film, although maybe a little hard to see. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/4Ao8FGYQjf8

http://youtu.be/vNd9jwp9JA4

http://youtu.be/npp1pE-AYf4

http://youtu.be/heY2hLR1YMU

Post by **MrBushy** » May 29th, 2019, 2:08 am

Hi Shiffy, Those Shubs are lovely fish & they are having fun both in the tank & pond-they didn't waste any time getting their feet under the table. I didn't recognise the one with the black stripe aross it's face-who is it? I didn't notice the listing either but I have seen tank fish list when they align themselves to a light source against the straight edges of an aquarium. Does the fish appear to be doing it in the pond? Looked ok to me.

There's at least one other example of a tri-tailed fish I can think of on my rounds, he wasn't very co-operative this month but I should be there again in a couple of weeks so I'll try again & maybe he'll play ball.

Thank you for more facinating pond videos, you have some unique looking fish & it seems somone can't leave the camera alone in the first one going by the bangs on the soundtrack although they cannot be seen so are obviously tackling it from behind to remain anonymous! You're lucky your fish like algae, I wish my lot would eat the stuff-as you can see in my latest offering the pond was due for a serious cleaning session & they just wait for me to do it. How do you affix your camera at the bottom? I wedge it between two large flat pebbles but I made a bracket that attaches to the side for the hand feeding view to be level with the action.

https://vimeo.com/339000982.

Post by **MrBushy** » June 5th, 2019, 12:30 am

I was at my Cousin's pond in Stony Stratford doing a water change at the weekend, the ledge in the pond is not completely level so as the water fills back up parts of it flood before others. The nosey fish are always eager to get onto the ledge & root about for any titbits-this was the first intrepid explorer: