Need help - suicidal shubunkans

Help! My shubunkans are jumping out of my barrel pond. I knew I'd lost
a shubunkan over vacation but figured it was ammonia or something.
There was no way to find a corpse in the green water so I didn't know
what happened. I bought three more and put them in the pond on Friday.
All 3 were alive and accounted for Sunday. Today, I could only find
two. I finally looked on the ground, and there were two dead jumpers.

Do shubunkans commonly jump? Do I need netting over the barrel with
them? If so, how do I handle the marginals and water lettuce which are
sticking up out of the barrel? Please help! I don't want to find any
more dead fish on the ground.

Also, while I'm on the subject of shubunkans, one fish is constantly
chasing the other. I can't figure out whether it's aggression or mating
behavior. Will this stress out the chasee, and would a third fish help?
(Assuming I can keep it in the barrel and off the concrete.)

Thanks for any advice.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Last year I kept having problems with shubunkins jumping out of the
wifes half barrel feature. Water parameters were just fine. I
eventually got tired of finding the fish out of water (seem this one
shubunkin kept pressing his luck with the thought I would always find
it in due time before it was too late) so I put up a small barrier
made out of 1/2" sq plastic mesh. Sort of like a fish fence. It kept
the shubunkins in and eventually I removed it and they stayed put
until I removed them to the larger pond late last year. This year so
far we have two small koi and about 8 or so small feeder type GF in
the two half barrels and none have made any attempts at jumping out.
It seems only the shubunkins ever jumped out. One finsh in particular
must have jumped out at least 7 or 8 times, with a few of those times
I did not think he would make it, but its still doing fine.

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:32:45 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:

===Help! My shubunkans are jumping out of my barrel pond. I knew I'd lost
===a shubunkan over vacation but figured it was ammonia or something.
===There was no way to find a corpse in the green water so I didn't know
===what happened. I bought three more and put them in the pond on Friday.
=== All 3 were alive and accounted for Sunday. Today, I could only find
===two. I finally looked on the ground, and there were two dead jumpers.
===
===Do shubunkans commonly jump? Do I need netting over the barrel with
===them? If so, how do I handle the marginals and water lettuce which are
===sticking up out of the barrel? Please help! I don't want to find any
===more dead fish on the ground.
===
===Also, while I'm on the subject of shubunkans, one fish is constantly
===chasing the other. I can't figure out whether it's aggression or mating
===behavior. Will this stress out the chasee, and would a third fish help?
=== (Assuming I can keep it in the barrel and off the concrete.)
===
===Thanks for any advice.


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

~Roy~ wrote:
Last year I kept having problems with shubunkins jumping out of the
wifes half barrel feature. Water parameters were just fine. I
eventually got tired of finding the fish out of water (seem this one
shubunkin kept pressing his luck with the thought I would always find
it in due time before it was too late) so I put up a small barrier
made out of 1/2" sq plastic mesh. Sort of like a fish fence. It kept
the shubunkins in and eventually I removed it and they stayed put
until I removed them to the larger pond late last year. This year so
far we have two small koi and about 8 or so small feeder type GF in
the two half barrels and none have made any attempts at jumping out.
It seems only the shubunkins ever jumped out. One finsh in particular
must have jumped out at least 7 or 8 times, with a few of those times
I did not think he would make it, but its still doing fine.

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:32:45 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:


===Help! My shubunkans are jumping out of my barrel pond. I knew I'd lost
===a shubunkan over vacation but figured it was ammonia or something.
===There was no way to find a corpse in the green water so I didn't know
===what happened. I bought three more and put them in the pond on Friday.
=== All 3 were alive and accounted for Sunday. Today, I could only find
===two. I finally looked on the ground, and there were two dead jumpers.
===
===Do shubunkans commonly jump? Do I need netting over the barrel with
===them? If so, how do I handle the marginals and water lettuce which are
===sticking up out of the barrel? Please help! I don't want to find any
===more dead fish on the ground.
===
===Also, while I'm on the subject of shubunkans, one fish is constantly
===chasing the other. I can't figure out whether it's aggression or mating
===behavior. Will this stress out the chasee, and would a third fish help?
=== (Assuming I can keep it in the barrel and off the concrete.)
===
===Thanks for any advice.



==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

I was thinking of a barrier like that. I'll try that first, and if that
fails, I'll separate the fish so they're one to a barrel.

Thanks, Roy and George

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Elaine T wrote:
~Roy~ wrote:

Last year I kept having problems with shubunkins jumping out of the
wifes half barrel feature. Water parameters were just fine. I
eventually got tired of finding the fish out of water (seem this one
shubunkin kept pressing his luck with the thought I would always find
it in due time before it was too late) so I put up a small barrier
made out of 1/2" sq plastic mesh. Sort of like a fish fence. It kept
the shubunkins in and eventually I removed it and they stayed put
until I removed them to the larger pond late last year. This year so
far we have two small koi and about 8 or so small feeder type GF in
the two half barrels and none have made any attempts at jumping out.
It seems only the shubunkins ever jumped out. One finsh in particular
must have jumped out at least 7 or 8 times, with a few of those times
I did not think he would make it, but its still doing fine.

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:32:45 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:


===Help! My shubunkans are jumping out of my barrel pond. I knew
I'd lost ===a shubunkan over vacation but figured it was ammonia or
something. ===There was no way to find a corpse in the green water
so I didn't know ===what happened. I bought three more and put
them in the pond on Friday. === All 3 were alive and accounted for
Sunday. Today, I could only find ===two. I finally looked on the
ground, and there were two dead jumpers.
===
===Do shubunkans commonly jump? Do I need netting over the barrel
with ===them? If so, how do I handle the marginals and water
lettuce which are ===sticking up out of the barrel? Please help!
I don't want to find any ===more dead fish on the ground.
===
===Also, while I'm on the subject of shubunkans, one fish is
constantly ===chasing the other. I can't figure out whether it's
aggression or mating ===behavior. Will this stress out the chasee,
and would a third fish help? === (Assuming I can keep it in the
barrel and off the concrete.)
===
===Thanks for any advice.




==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!


I was thinking of a barrier like that. I'll try that first, and if that
fails, I'll separate the fish so they're one to a barrel.

Thanks, Roy and George

Well, the fish separated themselves. I came out this morning and the
smaller fish had squeezed herself through the grate on the spillway and
was in the bottom barrel. Guess I'll leave them that way. I've read
that goldies like company, but I guess these two won't be social until
after springtime is over.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Does anyone else think that 2 koi and 8 goldfish in 2 half barrels is a lot
of fish per volume? I would think they are jumping out because they don't
have enough territory and are chasing one another. The only thing I have
been able to keep safely in my vase water garden which is about the same
size as a half barrel liner are rosie reds.


wrote in message m...
Elaine T wrote:
~Roy~ wrote:

Last year I kept having problems with shubunkins jumping out of the
wifes half barrel feature. Water parameters were just fine. I
eventually got tired of finding the fish out of water (seem this one
shubunkin kept pressing his luck with the thought I would always find
it in due time before it was too late) so I put up a small barrier
made out of 1/2" sq plastic mesh. Sort of like a fish fence. It kept
the shubunkins in and eventually I removed it and they stayed put
until I removed them to the larger pond late last year. This year so
far we have two small koi and about 8 or so small feeder type GF in
the two half barrels and none have made any attempts at jumping out.
It seems only the shubunkins ever jumped out. One finsh in particular
must have jumped out at least 7 or 8 times, with a few of those times
I did not think he would make it, but its still doing fine.

On Wed, 06 Apr 2005 02:32:45 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:


===Help! My shubunkans are jumping out of my barrel pond. I knew
I'd lost ===a shubunkan over vacation but figured it was ammonia or
something. ===There was no way to find a corpse in the green water so
I didn't know ===what happened. I bought three more and put them in
the pond on Friday. === All 3 were alive and accounted for Sunday.
Today, I could only find ===two. I finally looked on the ground, and
there were two dead jumpers.
===
===Do shubunkans commonly jump? Do I need netting over the barrel
with ===them? If so, how do I handle the marginals and water lettuce
which are ===sticking up out of the barrel? Please help! I don't
want to find any ===more dead fish on the ground.
===
===Also, while I'm on the subject of shubunkans, one fish is
constantly ===chasing the other. I can't figure out whether it's
aggression or mating ===behavior. Will this stress out the chasee,
and would a third fish help? === (Assuming I can keep it in the
barrel and off the concrete.)
===
===Thanks for any advice.




==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!


I was thinking of a barrier like that. I'll try that first, and if that
fails, I'll separate the fish so they're one to a barrel.

Thanks, Roy and George

Well, the fish separated themselves. I came out this morning and the
smaller fish had squeezed herself through the grate on the spillway and
was in the bottom barrel. Guess I'll leave them that way. I've read that
goldies like company, but I guess these two won't be social until after
springtime is over.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

DKat wrote:
Does anyone else think that 2 koi and 8 goldfish in 2 half barrels is a lot
of fish per volume? I would think they are jumping out because they don't
have enough territory and are chasing one another. The only thing I have
been able to keep safely in my vase water garden which is about the same
size as a half barrel liner are rosie reds.


Where in the world did you get that idea??? I have 2 gambusia, 4 white
clouds, and 2 shubunkans in THREE half barrels connected by spillways
and well filtered.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

Elaine T wrote:

Well, the fish separated themselves. I came out this morning and the
smaller fish had squeezed herself through the grate on the spillway and
was in the bottom barrel. Guess I'll leave them that way. I've read
that goldies like company, but I guess these two won't be social until
after springtime is over.

*sigh* The saga continues. The second shubunkan squeezed through the
grate as well so both were in the bottom barrel this morning when I fed.
I didn't have time to do anything about it. This afternoon, I came
home to ... you guessed it. Another crispy, dried out fish. *sniffle*
I've had it. That one aggressive shubunkan can stay alone until I
figure out a foolproof way to keep fish out of the spillways and in the
barrel.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...
*sigh* The saga continues. The second shubunkan squeezed through the
grate as well so both were in the bottom barrel this morning when I fed.
I didn't have time to do anything about it. This afternoon, I came
home to ... you guessed it. Another crispy, dried out fish. *sniffle*
I've had it. That one aggressive shubunkan can stay alone until I
figure out a foolproof way to keep fish out of the spillways and in the
barrel.
=======================
I was sitting on the porch enjoying the small waterfall in the inground 150
gallon mini-pond when a shubunkin started to try going UP the waterfall.
He/she tried and tried.... looking like a salmon trying to get to it's
breeding grounds. Finally it gave up. Fish do strange things (from a human
point of view).

Over the years I've had several goldfish and one koi commit suicide.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o