Saturday, July 21, 2007

Fish

We have fish in our pond! Three fish. I know you only see one but there are three. They are still very shy and so every time someone comes to the pond they retreat under the stand where the cocucha pots sits. I tried earlier this morning to photograph them before the sun created a lot of reflection on the water but they didn't cooperate at all. So I tried again after Ned had gone to buy them fish food. I was hoping that the food would entice them and I'd get all three up where I could photograph them. This was the best I could do today.

I've read that goldfish will start to recognize the person who feeds them and some will even come to recognize a voice. Seems far fetched? Scroll down to Behaviors in this Wikipedia entry about goldfish.

What is next? Well today I looked at a birdcage.

7 comments:

Jonna said...

How exciting that you have a pond,I can't wait for the unveiling of the new patio. I'm a bit of a pond nut, I've built a couple in Calif and I made sure one was included in digging out the back yard in Merida.

It's nice to hear that even you find photographing fish difficult. They do move fast. I've found that they slow down after they eat, for about 2 minutes, mine just hang in the water as if they can't swim and digest at the same time. Actually, I can relate as I like a little cat nap after I eat too ;)

Billie Mercer said...

Jonna, this is my first adventure with a pond. I have a lot to learn about keeping the fish but I do hope that they will like this little pond which is only about 36" across so I can't have very many fish. I may have to call on you for advice.

1st Mate said...

A very pretty fellow. So now you'll have to add "talk to fish" to your to-do list.

Brenda Maas said...

I had fish in 3 different ponds where I lived in Canada. I do believe that they recognise or get used to you, as they would come to the surface as if they knew I was going to feed them, when other people would go to the side of the pool they would disappear.
Be careful not to overfeed them as the uneaten food can make the water become toxic and it will kill your fish. My mother in law did this by accident once with my fish when she was feeding them for me while I was gone. They were dying off one after another as I watched when I returned home. I moved them to clean water and managed to save a couple; but most died. In the summer I fed them very little as they find food in the pond, plants, etc.. I had to move them inside in the winter and then had to feed them daily.
Good luck and have fun.

Nancy said...

Birdcage? Tell all!

I think an Amazon would love it out on your patio, and you would have a blast teaching him to talk.

Our Amazon, Tiko, has a vocabulary of about 20 phrases, including Buenos dias, Hola, Do you want a head rub?, Are you a good bird?, I'm Tiko, etc.

Islagringo said...

Before we retired to Mexico, we kept goldfish in our horse water tank! Sounds silly but they ate the algae from the side of the tank and did not seem to mind the horses sticking their noses in! We kept a floating heater in the tank in the winter and the fish would go into a kind of hibernation and stay under the heater. Be aware though, goldfish adapt to their environment and will grow as large as they can for the tank. Yours will surely get bigger with time. Good luck and enjoy them!

Billie Mercer said...

I'm calling this a pond but it isn't very big. About 16" deep and 36" across. But the three little fishies seem to be adapting and aren't as shy today as they were yesterday. I'll have to check out the water temp in our "winter" in SMA but I'm hoping that I don't have to have a heater. I don't think most people who keep gold fish in a pond have heaters here.

We have some friends who bought a house and the garden was overgrown. When they started cleaning it up they found a pond with fish still alive under all the vines etc. So I guess the little guys can adjust.