"Life finds a way" - actor Jeff Goldblum, from the film Jurassic Park.

Early this morning I went out back with the dogs for their morning ritual. Sometimes I have to stay out with them or they'll just turn around and follow me back inside. So as I wandered around the patio, I walked over to my secondary water feature, which we call "the fountain."
I'm sure I've mentioned it before. It's just a 20-gallon circular liner sunk into a triangular-shaped flower bed off the patio. It was my "starter water garden." I added it to see if I could be bothered to take care of a fish pond. Obviously it was a success, since I now have a 240-gal. pond with too many fish!
In the summer of 2007 we had a population explosion and doubled our fish. I had 15 and now there are well over 30! The big white fish we suspected to be the birth mother died earlier this summer and I prayed for no more babies. Fortunately, none arrived, at least I didn't think so ...

Back to this morning ... I looked down into the fountain, frowning over all the leaves that have collected in it over the last couple weeks ... and that's when I saw something move!
I usually expect to see at least one startled frog dive suddenly to the depths, but this was not that! I squinted and looked closer - yes, it was a tiny little white fish, only about 3/4 of an inch in size. And as I looked at it, amazed, another, quite larger black fish swam past (about 2 inches)!
And then there was another and another. Four total that I could see, all darting under the floating hyacinths that still linger in the fountain. Great!
How does this happen, when there are no other fish in the fountain? I'm as amazed as you are, but I think it has to do with the hyacinths. You see, they multiply at a fast rate (and are outlawed in some parks because, if left on their own, they will choke the life out of a water source). Anyway, all summer long I'm constantly throwing them out and I usually move some from the pond to the fountain, to keep it from getting green with algae. The floating plants block the sunlight, which counteracts the growth of the algae. Somewhere during this process, I think, the baby fish/eggs are in the feathery roots that hang from these plants and are thus transferred with the plant to the fountain.
So this weekend as I go about draining the fountain and covering it for the winter (I've found that if I don't, the frogs will choose to winter-over there and will die when the fountain freezes - yes, it's happened, that's why I cover it), I'll have to try to catch these babies in a small net and transfer them to the bigger pond. You'd be surprised how quick they are!
Oh well, such is life.