# How did these fish get in my pond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565 "2006-06-13T13:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jombi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@Jombi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jombi)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/21 "2006-06-14T13:45:49Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > That would be my guess. Goldfish fry don’t turn gold until later in life. But if Jombi’s fish are two inches, they should be going gold by now (or at least gold with a brown “mohawk”) Hmmmm. I had considered that they might be goldfish offspring, but I thought that was unlikely. Do goldfish breed that easily? The pond is very stable and hospitable, and the fish do thrive, so maybe that is possible. If so, pretty cool. (They’re the cheapest “feeder” goldfish I could find at the pet store. Five for a dollar. I put them in the pond and they grow to a beautiful 6-8 inches with no upkeep whatsoever. And if a heron or raccoon eats a few, it’s no huge loss.) Gambusia fish? I can’t tell because I can’t see them closely enough. Not tadpoles. I do get tadpoles in the pond once in a while and they’re different. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/22 "2006-06-14T16:44:54Z")
I have the same question about my little lily pool, except with frogs and water snails. how does a suburabn frog find a little body of water/ I’m over a mile from the nearest swamp, yet my pool was colonized. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/23 "2006-06-14T17:36:55Z")
Maybe **Clockwork And Candy** put them there? > **[What killed this fish?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375612)** > > This is something that has plagued me since my childhood. When I was a young lad of eleven I was fishing at one of the many ponds located on the property we lived on. I’d caught quite a few but I always released them back into the water. The sun was... ---
**Author:** ![Travis9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Travis9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Travis9)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/24 "2017-04-23T21:19:04Z")
The sun doesn’t technically evaporate water. That would require heating it to boiling temperatures, and therefore, the argument that fish eggs could not be carried in the water that is lightened and shifted by heating but not boiled away into a gas or vapor is not necessarily accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/25 "2017-04-23T21:28:14Z")
> [@Travis9](#): > > The sun doesn’t technically evaporate water. That would require heating it to boiling temperatures, and therefore, the argument that fish eggs could not be carried in the water that is lightened and shifted by heating but not boiled away into a gas or vapor is not necessarily accurate. Not quite right-both evaporation and boiling are ways to achieve vaporization. Read [here.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporation) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/26 "2017-04-23T21:32:37Z")
> [@Travis9](#): > > The sun doesn’t technically evaporate water. That would require heating it to boiling temperatures, and therefore, the argument that fish eggs could not be carried in the water that is lightened and shifted by heating but not boiled away into a gas or vapor is not necessarily accurate. Well, I’m equally skeptical of the notion that fish eggs can hitch a ride on water molecules as they evaporate (if that’s what you’re saying - I lost track of the multiple negation there), but evaporation does not require boiling. > **[Evaporation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporation)** > > Evaporation is a type of vaporization that occurs on the surface of a liquid as it changes into the gas phase. A high concentration of the evaporating substance in the surrounding gas significantly slows down evaporation, such as when humidity affects rate of evaporation of water. When the molecules of the liquid collide, they transfer energy to each other based on how they collide. When a molecule near the surface absorbs enough energy to overcome the vapor pressure, it will escape and ent On ... ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/27 "2017-04-24T05:52:09Z")
> [@Travis9](#): > > The sun doesn’t technically evaporate water. That would require heating it to boiling temperatures, and therefore, the argument that fish eggs could not be carried in the water that is lightened and shifted by heating but not boiled away into a gas or vapor is not necessarily accurate. Welcome to the Straight Dope! Hopefully your future posts won’t be to 11 year old threads and will not be dead wrong. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/28 "2017-04-24T10:58:39Z")
I believe that Goldfish are an invasive species. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2017, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565/29 "2017-04-24T13:58:34Z")
> [@Stan\_Doubt](#): > > Are they Gambusia (mosquitofish)? > > [Gambusia - Google Search](http://images.google.com/images?q=Gambusia&oe=UTF-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi) > > It is possible that the eggs may have come in via purchased plant material from an aquatics/garden store. It’s also not unusual for a neighbor to stock a nearby pond b/c of mosquito concerns. Gambusia are live bearers, they do not hatch from eggs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-these-fish-get-in-my-pond/360565.md?page=1)