How do fish end up in a pond when it isn't stocked?

Question

Would like to know just how fish end up in a pond when none where there to begin with, that doesn't include stocking the pond with them.

Answer 1

Evolution has a role in it, but evolving from algae into fish would seriously take millions of years. The short answer that you are looking for happens in a couple different ways.

The first fish to show up in a pond, creek or ditch (i grew up in the south...we used to have fish show up in our roadside ditches all the time) are Sun Perch. These fish lay eggs that are very sticky...from there it's a game of chance. Birds like ducks swim in the shallow sections of the pond where the fish lay eggs and get these sticky eggs are and get fish eggs stuck to their feet. When these birds jump in to another water source the eggs are come off and hatch.

Some other possibilities are floods, overflows...there really are too many to try and name...but nature always has a way of balancing everything out.

Answer 2

Depends on the pond and the type of fish, but there are typically streams or creeks that feed into/drain out of a pond (it's not just a big puddle, in other words (there's a subtle distinction between a lake and a pond, though most agree it has to do with size) So some species of fish that can live in either, like trout, can end up in the pond just by swimming there. Also, if your pond was stocked at some point in its past, there is the very real possibility that a few "got away" and kept living in the pond, breeding and producing more fish. Also, while the pond is not stocked by the city, county or state government (I'm assuming this is a public pond), people might release fish into the pond for their own purposes (and might release non-native fish there, to boot, so you might be as likely to pull up koi or a guppy as you would a trout, in this scenario)

Answer 3

Evolution, algae and bacteria are first formed.. then the gene pool evolves and finally after a million years you should have fish in them.

Otherwise the ponds we see today were actually part of a larger water body, which broke up and so few fish were actualy left in them.

Answer 4

Flooding does populate closed ponds, also tornados are hurricanes can lift the fish and drop them in closed bodies of water. It usually takes many decades or in some cases centuries, but they'll get in there.

Answer 5

Some pretty good arguments.

Answer 6

Interested in this