Help identify mystery fish?

[Deeznuts]

See attached:

This is probably going to sound baffling and made up.

I have a deck pond dedicated to any future Ill fish that I will isolate and treat separately.

It doubles up as a water feature when not in use.

See below:

Here's the thing. I have personally never put fish in here and haven't needed to use it for any isolation purposes.

It has a few midgie larvae floating on top that I swoop up and feed the tropical fish now and then. It's all-natural rainwater that I filled up from the water butt when I re-located it. No water treatment or anything in this deck pond.

Today, however, I saw a fish (see picture) hiding under the pond tube.

I have no idea how it got in there or what it is and my parents claim they never put it in there. A week ago it was completely empty.

My only conclusion is a neighbour or someone put it in there which seems unlikely or a more extreme scenario, a bird dropped it in after flying away with it and it wriggled free. I know, stupid but I really can’t figure out how! Lol

I am also in the uk. So, our climate is currently summer/autumn

I am so confused!!

 

[Colin_T]

Bronze (wild) coloured goldfish

 

[Deeznuts]

Bronze (wild) coloured goldfish

Huh. Wild goldfish. How in the world could it have gotten in there? egg hitchhiked on a bathing bird, perhaps?

 

[Colin_T]

If the pond was dry a week ago it's not from an egg. The fish in the net is at least one month old and probably closer to two months.

Maybe someone added it to the pond or a water bird regurgitated it when it was drinking from the pond, but they don't normally do that. Someone or something has to have added it during the last week since the pond filled up.

If you had a cyclone/ typhoon in the area in the last week, it might have come in that way. Fish sometimes get sucked up by cyclones and deposited miles away.

 

[emeraldking]

Just a young goldfish. Goldfish are not born red, orange or yellow but brownish. At a certain age the dark colors starts to fade starti8ng from the bottom and will show the regular goldfish color. But there are also those that will stay dark. Every year new goldfish fry are born overhere. At a certain age the new goldfish of mine will go to stores.

Egss could come from goldfish themselves if you have some, they could have landed in your pond if one or more ggs were sticking on a plant or (as Colin has already stated) by a bird that showed up to drink from your pond. For eggs of other fish can stick to the feathers when they were at another water spot and evntually ended up in your pond. But from own experience I'd say it's a couple of months old already. And maybe it hasn't been noticed by you in the pond because of the dark color.

 

[CassCats]

Surprise, you now have a goldfish lol

His color can change as he grows.

Fun fact some fish eggs often survive after being eaten by ducks and get pooped back out. Food for thought...

 

[ellamarie]

That looks like my goldfish. They start brown and eventually get their color as they age. As for how it got there it could be possible that one of the birds regurgitated or dropped it, more likely someone put it there for some unknown reason.

I did end up reverse image searching the photo and it's also possible that it's a baby of another fish in your area. Think bass and perch or things that live in your local area.

TBH it'll be hard to be sure until it grows more.

 

[Deeznuts]

If the pond was dry a week ago, it would not have been from an egg. The fish in the net is at least one month old and probably closer to two months.

Maybe someone added it to the pond or a water bird regurgitated it when it was drinking from the pond, but they don't normally do that. Someone or something has to have added it during the last week since the pond filled up.

If you had a cyclone/ typhoon in the area in the last week, it might have come in that way. Fish sometimes get sucked up by cyclones and deposited miles away.

We don’t get cyclones in the UK. We often get 50mph winds, but the most damage they do is lift a bin a couple of feet, lol.

My parents don’t have the energy to catch fish and drop them in from the main pond.

There are children next door who recently moved in, but I can’t imagine them giving me a fish. If anything, taking them would be accurate, lol.

Mmm, the water before topping it up wasn’t completely dry. There was about 1cm of gross stagnant green water that my mum couldn’t remove with the suction pipe.

Previously, before I topped it up with the butt water, I remember my friend dropping off that sick fish that I put in the deck pond, but I can’t imagine a sick fish having the energy to drop any eggs, especially as there were no males to fertilise it. Or, perhaps the bucket he gave it to me in, has eggs in the water and when I netted it up. There was an egg in the water? Plausible I think but how it survived in such shallow gross water seems a little meh. Lol

 

[Deeznuts]

Just a young goldfish. Goldfish are not born red, orange or yellow but brownish. At a certain age the dark colors starts to fade starti8ng from the bottom and will show the regular goldfish color. But there are also those that will stay dark. Every year new goldfish fry are born overhere. At a certain age the new goldfish of mine will go to stores.

Egss could come from goldfish themselves if you have some, they could have landed in your pond if one or more ggs were sticking on a plant or (as Colin has already stated) by a bird that showed up to drink from your pond. For eggs of other fish can stick to the feathers when they were at another water spot and evntually ended up in your pond. But from own experience I'd say it's a couple of months old already. And maybe it hasn't been noticed by you in the pond because of the dark color.

I see, two months is crazy if it's been in there this whole time and survived.

I'm contemplating leaving it in there for now in the separate deck pond as it seems to be thriving well. Moreover, I don't want to risk putting it in the main pond as from what I know, it's from an unknown source.

I don't think I want to risk trying any treatment for such a small fish either.

I'll leave it as it is. It has plenty of food from larvae etc.

If it grows and does well. When it's eventually big enough, I'll take it to my local fish shop.

I have three in my main koi pond and that's more than enough lol

 

[Deeznuts]

That looks like my goldfish. They start brown and eventually get their color as they age. As for how it got there it could be possible that one of the birds regurgitated or dropped it, more likely someone put it there for some unknown reason.

I did end up reverse image searching the photo and it's also possible that it's a baby of another fish in your area. Think bass and perch or things that live in your local area.

TBH it'll be hard to be sure until it grows more.

Lol. Imagine a Bass and I'd put it in the main pond. Would become huge and start eating everything lol

 

[GaryE]

The answer is right there. Look at the garden gnomes, fishing. What have they been using as bait, may I ask?

They'll never confess, but.

 

[Deeznuts]

The answer is right there. Look at the garden gnomes, fishing. What have they been using as bait, may I ask?

They'll never confess, but.

 

[Colin_T]

The answer is right there. Look at the garden gnomes, fishing. What have they been using as bait, may I ask?

They'll never confess, but.

garden worms