Unintentional fish in garden wildlife pond

[heliart]

When we started our wildlife pond a few months ago we took a couple of scoops of “muck” from two places to give the pond a kick start.
The first place was a local woodland pond, the second place was a local weir pool.

Anyhow, all looks to be very well, lots of life in the water, teeming with all sorts of microbes, beetles, shrimp, snails, larvae etc
What I have notices is that I’ve a small shoal of very small fish (about 8 to 10), various sizes, some of which look like they perhaps only just hatched.
I guess we must of picked up some eggs in the silt etc - I guess from the weir pool, so I'm starting to realise that was not such a smart thing to do.

Problem is, it’s very difficult to identify the species at the moment, and I’m guessing until they get a little larger they should be OK left in there.
It would be my intention to pull them out perhaps once I know what they are and return then to where they came from.

[ron1863]

That sounds fascinating, I would be wondering what species they were but would wait until they were much older, perhaps you will keep them.

[shei111]

Best to see how big they turn out to be , then decide whether to take them back or not, nice to see what they are very interesting. shei

[Surrey Sam]

Just a polite word of warning about some legislation. I believe that in order to move the fish around you will need to apply to the Environment Agency for Section 30 consent of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

The act is in place to stop the spread of waterborne diseases and to protect our water network, inland waters and all associated wildlife. If someone is found to be contravening the act then they have committed a criminal offence and could find themselves being prosecuted and fined up to £2500.

I know you mean well with your intentions, but please do check with the EA before moving any wild fish or putting fish back into the wild.

[djackso]

Originally Posted by Surrey Sam

Just a polite word of warning about some legislation. I believe that in order to move the fish around you will need to apply to the Environment Agency for Section 30 consent of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

The act is in place to stop the spread of waterborne diseases and to protect our water network, inland waters and all associated wildlife. If someone is found to be contravening the act then they have committed a criminal offence and could find themselves being prosecuted and fined up to £2500.

I know you mean well with your intentions, but please do check with the EA before moving any wild fish or putting fish back into the wild.

Crikey, this seems a bit harsh. Heliart didn't even take fish as such. Best not tell us what you do with them heliart, just deny all knowledge, or claim insanity.

[Dogghound]

It may seem harsh but Sam does have a point, especially regarding disease. Its an interesting one, best to see what the fish are if they are minnows or sticklebacks then they wont cause a massive amount of damage to a wildlife pond and in larger ponds are a nice addition. If they are a bigger species perhaps either check with the E.A or give them to a friend or put them in a tank or other pond.

[pete the pond]

dogghound is dead right if they are small spieces of fish they might be fine in your wildlife pond apart from they might predatate on tadpoles and newt fry
in the spring if you get them in the pond build a new pond just for the fish or bring them indoors in a tank then you might get to see what they are

all the best pete like dog hound knowledge very good sound advice

[shei111]

Please keep us posted on what the fish are be nice to know. shei

[heliart]

Here are a couple of images of what I have.

[Surrey Sam]

They quite possibly could be Bleak which are one of the smaller species found in our waters, I'd say that in a garden pond they would be doing extremely well to grow larger then 12-15cm.