How has a baby Rudd appeared in a pond containing only goldfish?

CinnamonChristmasCookie

CinnamonChristmasCookie

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Just that, really. I re-homed all the Rudd some years ago, they’d been far too successful following a huge koi being re-homed. I had 7 bright orange/white goldfish remaining. This baby, no more than an inch, is definitely not a goldfish. How has he appeared? He’s identical to some of the Rudd I re-homed. I’m puzzled.
 
A dormant egg has hatched? No idea if that is feasible for fish...or what conditions have made it happen now 🤔
 
Are dormant eggs a thing? Who knew?! I mean, I emptied the pond of fish and water, Bear was over the moon to stare at the frogs I carefully placed in a bucket. I didn’t clean the sides/plant/pump so maybe an egg escaped. I’m just trying to think how long ago it was.

Edit: 3 years ago, according to an old post. Weird! It’s funny, my mum suggested a bird, but it’s a very specific breed and the identical colour as some of the originals, dark orange and black.
 
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I have known of bird to carry eggs on feathers or in the beaks but mostly ducks or could it of been transferred from 1 of the frogs maybe stuck on it's body some how
 
Also some of the rudd are hatched as plain brown fish, so could of been hiding for awhile. They change colour as they get older.

When I had a pond in the past we stocked it with 6 brown rudd. 1 year later we had 3 brown rudd, 1 brown and orange and 2 orange.
 
It’s teeny, so new. The pond is netted (blasted heron) and I read that fish eggs being dropped by birds is highly unlikely. Some starlings occasionally sit on the top of the net for a shallow bath.
 
I'd been told or I'd read that waterfowl can transport some fish eggs from pond to pond. The eggs stick to the birds' legs.

But although it's a commonly held belief, no scientists have ever really investigated it...
 
Maybe when you had rudd before, their eggs got carried to another nearby pond or water source, resulting in a population somewhere nearby which look similar to the ones you had before. Now an egg was transferred back the other way? I don’t think it’s that uncommon for fish to appear where there were none before, transferred by birds or other, but that would explain why this fish is the same you had previously. Just one idea anyhow!
 
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