Tropical Fish Forums

[Dwindle]

In the pond in our backyard, we have a few butterfly koi and some other things that I'm not sure of. We have some calico colored fish, some orange, and some dark, almost red fish. They do breed sometimes and one year, they had black colored fry. How does this happen if none of our fish have black in them?
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Weebles wobble...but they don't fall down!

[LittleMousling]

The fry are black at a very young age so they can hide more effectively. They'll turn an olive color next, and then start moving towards more familiar colors, though their colors can change throughout their lives, especially in the first few years.
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-Molly
Finsout.com! Shelldwellers.com!

[Dwindle]

Notice that I wrote "One year, they had black colored fry". By this I mean like two years ago. I was wondering, however because at first I just thought it was weird, not a problem or anything. But now the older fish are dying off and more of our fish are black colered than bright colored. Our pond is pretty clean, but no matter how clear the water is, it's very hard to see the black fish. There are only three colored fish left in the pond and a whole lot of black fish. The black fish don't seem to be changing color either. Do you think it's possible that eventually, the whole pond will have black fish? (I'm not racist, they're just hard to see!)
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Weebles wobble...but they don't fall down!

[LittleMousling]

Yes, it's quite possible. Goldfish genes are quite varied and changeable; it's one of the reasons they're so popular for breeding.
But are you sure the fish are black, and not a dark olive sort of color? Reverting to wild-type color is extremely common over time.
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-Molly
Finsout.com! Shelldwellers.com!

[Oscer]

The same thing is happining to my gold fish, the old ones stay gold, but the younger ones are turning black. Not one of my fish has died to date.
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Years of fish keeping = Good advice