Do fish change colour?

[Sonia]

Carp fish especially change colour. We had a green grass carp, its now black.

[BigT]

Originally Posted by Boddie

I find when I fry fish it changes colour. Does that help?

Wouldn't make much of a meal i'm afraid! Still, I am reassured to know that I don't have to blame my neighbours for dumping some mutant breed in my pond which will eat everything in sight.

Had a few deaths recently too (probably all that talk of frying..). No obvious sign of disease that I could detect and pretty young. Can fish drown themselves? The bodies were caught in the roots of a rampant aquatic mint (that I have subsequently removed). Not sure whether they died and drifted there, or swam in and couldn't get out.

BigT

[NigelT]

Hi

I have about a dozen baby fish in the pond all black and I see now that they are just starting to have some silver markings on them I imagine that they are now large enough for the bigger fish to leave them alone as they feed with the rest now.

My Koi that I have had for some years have changed colour, - well actually they have the same colours but as they have got bigger the markings have moved and changed shape.

[jezlee]

Originally Posted by BigT

I have some goldfish, golden rudd and golden minnows in my pond. Something has bred, but the fry although about thumbnail size now, are greyish silver. Will they turn gold?

Also, I recently found a leech in the pond. Brown, smooth and about an inch long - could this harm the fish?

BigT

My goldfish bred a couple of years ago and their youngsters stayed dark brown for the best part of two years before turning gold over the course of this summer ....

[nightshade]

The fish (in a half barrel on the patio) have just started to turn gold bar one which is white and orange

[jezlee]

Originally Posted by nightshade

The fish (in a half barrel on the patio) have just started to turn gold bar one which is white and orange

Yes, I've got one that is more white than orange .... must be some genetic thing ....