I have a small artificial pond in my backyard. It is approximately 7 feet long, 4 feet wide, perhaps 18 inches deep, and has a waterfall driven by an electric pump. Today my wife and son were catching tadpoles when they found a bluegill! We’ve been in our house for two years and haven’t seen any fish in the pond before today. Where did the fish come from? The most obvious explanation is that some person put it there, but I can’t think of any people who would have had the opportunity or desire to discreetly stock the pond without telling us. Can birds, turtles, or frogs transport fish eggs?
Various critters like birds can end up with eggs stuck to them and pass them off to another water source, are you near another body of water where bluegill might enhabit? Are you on well water where your water source may come in contact with another body of water?
Yes; that is how fish are able to populate isolated ponds and lakes, along with flooding (although that is probably out in this case).
How big was the fish (e.g. how old might it have been)? In a pond that size, you’d probably notice a fish before it got that big, so it might be possible that it was dumped by somebody.
It depends on where you are located on how fast this happens but I think it will happen virtually anywhere given enough time. I have heard some people insist that artificial ponds generally won’t get fish without human interference. That is complete crap. In my native Louisiana, you can dig any pond sized hole in the ground and it will have fish in it as long as it stays filled for a year or more and often less. As mentioned, I always heard that birds brought the eggs.
Yup!
God CREATED that fish, right there, to reveal something to you.
You have been tasked to figure out what it means, and then
spread the Good News to the heathen corners of the world.
Sorry, I have nothing to informational to add, but… that is so COOL! And so cool to go & explain to your son how it got there too 
Thanks for the responses everyone. A neighbor has a very large pond (about 1/4 acre or so) about 300-400 yards away which he keeps stocked with fish so I bet an egg hitched a ride from there. The fish was nearly full grown, but we haven’t really paid much attention to the pond since last fall.
gracer: if only! The sprout is 20 months old. Apparently he tried kissing one of the tadpoles.
Obviously it was the Fish Fairies
Lemme guess: God Hates Figs.
Ah, clever kid paid attention to the fairytales. Soon you will have a 20 month old prince/princess on your hands as well 
I have to fall into the “I don’t believe this…yet” catagory.
I’d like to see more evidence than conjecture that this does happen on regular basis.
In this case I can accept that there is a bluegill in the pool that mysteriously got there, but it is a bit of a leap to say eggs attached to duck feet brought it there. Is there any evidence that demonstrates this mechanism?
You didn’t add any pond plants at any time did you? It’s very common for them to include free fish eggs- my parents’ concrete lined pond had mystery appearing fish after they bought a lily- not a native (or commonly introduced) fish species either, so very unlikely to have got there by other means.
I don’t know how obvious bluegills are, but a lot of fish are surprisingly good at dodging detection, even in a tiny fishtank they can disappear when you know they’re there. If you weren’t looking, it could easily have been there the whole time…
I heard that it was actually fish-eating birds who would poop the undigested eggs upon other bodies of water.
But yes, the phenomenon of fish spontaneously appearing in otherwise unpopulated bodies of water is well known. Here’s some good answers from Ask a Biologist.
Yes, well I don’t doubt that fish appear in unpopulated bodies of water. What I’m suspicious of is the mechanism of eggs attached to ducks feet.
All I’ve ever heard is that people say it happens. I don’t believe it yet and want to see evidence beyond ‘everybody knows its true’
This thread alone has produced three other possible mechanisms for fish to populate bodies of water, each just as credible or more so than eggs sticking to ducks feet.
iPhone app. Those things are amazing.
It will be interesting to see whether this has been observed or not. But at the same time, I don’t understand your skepticism. Fish eggs are sticky, aren’t they?
I don’t know that.
But there is more to it. It just doesn’t seem likely enough to occur on a regular basis. Several things have to happen.
- fish eggs have to be concentrated enough for them to contact ducks feet
- the eggs have to stick to the feet
- the eggs have to survive the desicating effects of transport to another pond
I’d just like to know if there is some evidence other than my “teacher told me this in high school”. I haven’t seen anything other than this sort of statement.
I’d happily accept it as a regular and common occurance if I see something more concrete; but for now I can’t accept it as anything but a 'Just-so" story.
Maybe it occasionally happens, I don’t know. But I expect other mechanisms account for more fish populations than sticky duck feet.
This is what I was going to suggest as a likely origin of the bluegill.
Could stick to the feathers on a swimming bird’s breast/belly, too. Some fish (and frog, and toad) eggs are in fact covered in a sticky goo, which would also protect them from dessication for at least a short period of time. Picture the goo around tomato seeds - those seeds don’t immediately dry out, because the goo contains a lot of moisture.