Friday, November 25, 2005

Iitu watches HER TV

Annikki's table top aquarium, the only one of its kind in the world, is of great interest to our cat. Iitu. Sometimes she perches on the clear plastic cover and watches the goldfish swimming under her feet. She scrapes on the glass trying to get to them.

Of late, as three goldfish are enormous, Annikki has started to keep part of the clear plastic top slid so that there is greater air circulation over the surface. Next to the aquarium is a leather chair, and this picture reveals how Iitu has her sights set on the contents of the aquarium! One swipe and the goldfish will be devoured with no compunctions!

Iitu watches the goldfish

It is interesting to note that while the goldfish were out in the outdoor pool, we found that there were five black baby fish in the pond. We could not figure out how these fish had arrived, as none of us though that goldfish babies could be black.

When we brought the fish in for winter, we managed to bring in four, but one was killed by one of the overactive large goldfish. One died in the outside pond.

We have been watching the three baby fish grow. To our amazement we found that one was gradually changing colour, from jet black to a lighter shade, till finally, last week we discovered that the black was almost off on one fish and it was a goldfish!!

I found this piece of information on the internet.

When baby Goldfish hatch from eggs, they are shorter than 1/8th of an inch, which is about 3 millimeters. In fact, I've heard baby goldfish described as being about 2 millimeters long. If you can carefully estimate the size, when you first saw the baby fish in your pond, it might be a useful clue.

Baby Goldfish are not gold or orange colored, when they hatch. Instead they are often tan or olive colored. Sometimes they are dark, but I have not seen really black baby goldfish. Again the color of the baby fish in your pond, might be a clue.

As baby Goldfish grow, they begin to have the shape of goldfish, and when they've grown to be about 1½" long, they often begin changing color.


I never believed that goldfish could have black babies, but I have lived and learned.

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