Tuesday, 8 July 2025

Quelle surprise!

 

Quelle surprise!

Silver rudd (Scardinius Erythrophthalmus) are shoaling fish, and a good species to keep with other pond fish. They are peaceful and easy to look after. This photograph was taken a few years ago.

Who’d have thought it? Blow me down! Well, I never! You could have knocked me down with a feather (yeah, right)  . . . and other expressions of delight, amazement and astonishment.

What caused this delirium? After a period of at least two years of absence, two fish surfaced in our pond. We don’t know where they’ve been hiding.

Newly hatched fish fry are tiny and prey to many other aquatic species, like dragonfly and damselfly larvae and diving beetles. Parent fish cannibalise their young, but all our large adult fish had inexplicably disappeared and we hadn’t noticed any overweight herons bumbling around. The fish we saw have clearly survived the perils of fish babyhood.

So, it remains a mystery, but we were so pleased to see two little fish swimming about. There may be more, but those are the only ones we’ve seen. They are around 3” long, so may be mature enough to spawn. We shall see.

Today's little fish would not oblige and pose for a photograph, so this is a shot from a few years ago.

23 comments:

  1. Two fish? I see six fish in that first photo! I've never heard of Silver Rudd, but I'll keep them in mind should I ever have a fish pond.

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    1. We had tropical fish at one time - never again.

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  2. After 2 years that must have been quite a surprise!!!

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    1. It was quite exciting. (What a sad life I lead!) 🐟

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  3. Hello my friend

    What a delightful surprise indeed! Nature always finds a way. So lovely that the fish reappeared after all this time little miracles like that bring such joy.

    Hopefully more will show up soon! Thanks for sharing this peaceful pond moment, and fingers crossed for some fishy babies in the near future!

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    1. It would be nice to have some more - we shall have to be patient.

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  4. Nature always has ways to surprise us, is it not? The fish look nice!
    -- Pradeep / Time and Tide

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  5. Lovely surprise, I wonder if any more are lurking in the depths?

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  6. Good way to start the week, nature always fights back.

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  7. We used to have Golden Rudd in our fish pond. They had masses of babies every year although not all survived. We would see the little shoals of splinters huddling together and darting under the pond weed when we came close.
    I hope yours do well. Swim little fishes! Swim!

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    1. Golden rudd show up better than silver. It is lovely to see baby fish but just as well that they don't all survive!

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  8. Only my guppies keep multiplying but my koi stay the same. I do see few fry but they disappear very fast.

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    1. Guppies are prolific. We used to keep tropical fish, but no longer.
      Fish fry are tasty snacks for so many. 🐟

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  9. How exciting I'd be there back and fro all day checking, getting nothing else done!

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    1. I have been out there a few times, but the fish have gone into hiding again. 🐟🐟🐟

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  10. What a surprise indeed, I wonder if there'll be any more lurking in the depths of your pond! xxx

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    1. We live in hope rather than expectation. 😁

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  11. Great news about the fish. If you have mosquitoes in your area the way we do these fish will help eat all the larvae.

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  12. Mosquitoes - the bane of all our lives, and yet they must do some good.

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  13. What a nice surprise. Another blogger used to have a fish pond and would often blog about the perils of it's inhabitants.

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