Shubunkin Fish

[dpostrach]

We have a freshwater pond in our backyard. We decided on buying Shubunkin Fish, having over 100 gallons of water we decided on buying 2 of them. However we would find them on the rocks, I am assuming they jumped out of the pond. They did this several times and we found them quickly. Unfortunately we lost one yesterday and the other one today. Why did they jump out of the pond? We would like to get some more but, need to know what we did wrong first. Thank You!

[tropfish]

Sorry to hear about the deaths. Do a full workup of your water chemistry. Something wrong in that area will cause fish to jump. Also, see if something like a hawk or other bird is scaring the fish so that they jump out of fright. I would suggest temporarily covering the pond with a net if you get more so they can't jump until you figure out what is going on.

[bluekrissyspikes]

sometimes they just jump cause they can. it's a good idea to cover an outdoor pond to keep fish in and preditors out. lowering the water level will also help keep them from being able to jump out. is the pond filtered? cycled? water treated?

[angelcakes]

you need to cover your pond also how are your water readings its still a good idea to check these in a pond,

[dpostrach]

Thank You for all the advice! We have had the water checked and they say it is fine, we had thought about getting a net thinking maybe the neighbors cats were trying to get at them. We also have Goldfish in there and they are doing very well.

[P2009]

Shubunkin need places to hide, get shade: rocks, blocks, screens.
Also, to keep them over winter, you need about 3 feet of water for 1/5 area of surface.
We have 10 from last summer, 6 from this spring, and 12 babies hatched in May. Our pond is ~3500 gal; our bog is 700 gal.