Care
An ornamental form of a native fish, Golden rudd are an old favourite with many virtues. Top of the list of their talents is their appetite for duckweed, but they also spend the evenings catching mosquitos on the water surface and breed at a rate that makes them resilient if you get regular visits from the heron. Rudd are most at home in planted ponds and although not as colourful as orfe or goldfish, their bright red fins and brassy tones make them quietly attractive. They will occasionally breed back to the wild type and these silver rudd will display the bright red fins of their parents, even if they don't get the gold highlights.
Rudd are shoaling fish of the surface waters and appreciate being kept in groups of six or more. Aim for a mixture of sizes when buying them, as females grow faster and are more sturdily built. Although their lively nature may make koi a little spooky, rudd are entirely peaceful can be safely mixed with all other species of pond fish.
Feeding
Pond flakes, pond pellets, pond sticks, live/frozen foods, small snails, insects etc. May browse on certain aquatic plants/plant debris and will eat duckweed.
Breeding
Rudd tend to spawn once a year during Spring/Summer, when the water temperature often rises over 18 °C. Reproduction is by external fertilisation, with large numbers of eggs deposited amongst thickets of aquatic vegetation. Newly hatched fish, which are surprisingly quite large in size, attach themselves to aquatic plants, where they will stay for several days until the nutritious yolk sac is used up.
