Here little Fishies, time for Din-din!

I went to a nursery (not the baby kind) today and did some fish shopping for the two ponds we have in front and behind our house. Years ago, we had lots of koi (a species of Japanese fish that are considered premium... they have whiskers too), some up to one foot long! Then, they slowly started disappearing. One by one, the numbers of koi and goldfish in our ponds would drop. Some days I would walk around the side of my house to see the remains of a goldfish... torn fins, a skull and scales scattered about. We realized it was probably a cat or some sort of badger-ish type thing that hunts for fishies in ponds. By that time, it was too late, and almost every single fish was gone.

Of course a few of the smaller ones (small enough to evade the cat's paw) survived in the front, and they have been doing ok. They were tiny before this past winter but now theyre about as big as my pinkie, and growing all the time. However the back pond, up until this point was completely empty :S, except for frogs, and mosquito larvae, of course.

So back to what I was saying... today we visited this nursery and chose some koi to replenish our non-existent stocks in the back. We ended purchasing 8 good sized koi for the back and 3 smaller ones for the front... It was quite an interesting trip.

Of course when we got back we put them back into the ponds, and for that there is some sort of delicate procedure; you have to float the bags for half an hour, add water bit by bit then slowly using your hand or a net slip them into their new homes. After doing this it seems the fish were quite traumatized, hehe! It was like they couldn't figure out what to do with themselves, sitting there on the bottom staring blankly with eyes wide open (I don't think fish have eyelids, actually).

I hope they're doing ok.. and that they won't get eaten by a hungry Garfield tonight.

kamster