Something Fishy

Taken last summer. Lilies haven't bloomed yet this year

Our garden pond is not an elaborate thing of water falls and pumps and fancy fountains. It is instead a 300-gallon Rubbermaid stock tank, intended for the watering needs of cows and horses. When I first wanted a pond we were not in a position to buy one. However, I had a job feeding a neighbor's horse and it paid enough to buy a watering trough.

It doesn't look too awful either. I wouldn't trade it for anything fancier, because the maintenance of it is virtually negligible. If I am not forced to drain it, it balances right up and stays fairly clear. This year I am not even running its little el-cheapo Walmart fountain.

Used to be, the first decade or so that we had it, I could winter fish and frogs in it pretty easily. Then the last two or three years winters have been so cold that it froze solid to the bottom. 

Thus we do our best to relocate any summering frogs to more suitable water features and bring the goldfish in the house.

This year six made it through the winter in an aquarium and back out to the pond.
 All orange. 
There seem to be four of those surviving.

The kids bought two more white-and-orange ones and four really pretty guppies.

I don't usually feed the fish in summer as the pond keeps them pretty well fed. However, since I wanted to see the guppies every day....did I mention that they are pretty?....I took to feeding them.

What should show up in the middle of the feeding frenzy but a huge, natural-colored (that is brown) carp goldfish. At first, since I didn't see the kids' fish when they put them in, I assumed it was a new one they bought, but, nope, they don't know anything about it.

The only thing I can figure is that is somehow escaped capture last fall, even though we nearly drained the tank, and survived the long, cold winter. There was one giant frog that we missed last fall that appeared to have made it through, although it sure looked rough when it emerged this spring, so anything is possible.

At any rate, it sure was a surprise!