Monday 27 May 2019

A Tail Of Two Fishes


This is a true story.

Years ago we had two fishes in a tank in the living room. They were of the goldfish variety. They swam to and fro happily in their tank and all was well.

Well ... not that well really. Because every week I had to empty the tank, clean it, re-fill it with fresh clean water and put in all the necessary tablets that fish require in a tank to live happily and swim to and fro.

After a long period of this weekly tank cleaning I'd had enough. So I put the two fishes in our newly dug pond at the end of our back garden and left them to it. They had to swim or sink as it were!

It's a lovely pond. Much larger than the tank they were in previously, with freshly planted pond weeds and floating flowers of various varieties which I could not name. I guess the pond is no bigger in volume than a couple of bath tubs; (depending on the size of bath tub you have in your bathroom of course; but then you wouldn't admit it here would you?)

Anyway, I left the fish there and every so often we threw in a few fish-feeding pellets which you can get from the pet shop in case the fish survived and were waiting there at their dinner table to be fed. This went on for about a year.

One day I was sitting there by the pond and noticed little one-inch sized silver-coloured fishes floating around in the pond. I looked carefully and yes ... they were small fishes all right. The original two gold-fishes which were about five inches or so big, were also there. I'd recognised them by their large almost transparent tails. The small fishes were swimming around very fast. There were between 6 and 6000 fishes, depending on how quickly you can count moving fishes.

The whole family was over-excited that the two goldfish had survived and now had a family of babies. Over time, the babies grew up to become lovely goldfishes which we can now count easily. There are now exactly eleven fishes in the pond, including the original two; depending of course on how good you are at counting moving fishes.

All this happened some ten or so years ago; and the eleven fishes are still there.

One thing I've often wondered though. Are the original two fishes still there, or have they died and been replaced by new fishes?

I really don't know. But I can tell you this. And this is the honest truth, my friends; believe me!

When I sit by the pond and call the fishes, as I used to when they were in the tank in our living room. I call them saying: "Hey fishy fishy ... hey fishy fishy fishy ..."

Believe me it's true. The fishes totally ignore me just like the original two did when in the fish tank!

14 comments:

  1. Haha!

    I had no idea they could survive in the wild.

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    1. No ... neither did I. I thought I'd put them outside and see if they'd survive the winter. Somehow they did and bred nine more.

      God bless you, Sandi.

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  2. I recently saw a picture of a goldfish which had been released in the wild and caught again a few years later weighing 20 #s. CAREFUL!
    Blessings!

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    1. I'll admit they are big, Lulu. One of them is about five inches long.

      God bless you.

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  3. Goldfish are Carp and they can get huge and of hand when released in our waterways.
    Maybe you had better be careful how close you get to the shore Victor...they may want a snack :)

    God's Blessings~

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    1. You're joking, right? Did I ever tell you about the day we had a whale in the pond? No? Visit tomorrow and I'll tell you. Same time same channel!

      God bless you, Jan.

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  4. Perhaps goldfish are deaf? I can't understand why they didn't come as directed.

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    1. Good point, Mevely. Do goldfish hear under water? They don't have ears so how can they hear? Can you imagine a Tuna Cryer shouting "Hear Ye! Hear Ye!" and all the other fish saying "What did you say? You had water in your mouth so we cod not hear you!" And the cod would be upset because he had water in his eyes; but that's another kettle of fish. Or is it a red herring? We're having a whale of a time here, I think. But that's the story for tomorrow. For now, I'll sing, "Whale meet again ... don't know when don't know where, but I know whale meet again to more here ... same time ... same channel."

      God bless.

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  5. Your response to Myra's comment is even funnier than your post, Victor!! I really do love your sense of humor!

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    1. So glad I made you laugh, Terri. Laughter is good. Even for a serious person like me.

      God bless you always.

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  6. Fishy! Fishy! Really?

    Jan is right, goldfish can grown really big, and aggressive. Don't turn your back on them, you hear!

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    1. Yes, I understand Susan. One of them is about five inches long.

      God bless you.

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  7. It's nice to see Goldfish in a large pond.
    Our local garden centre has quite a big pond of them, all different sizes.
    Yours may grow bigger than five inches - take care Victor.

    All the best Jan

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    1. I hope not, Jan. I read somewhere that fish only grow to the proportion of their environment; also they breed in relation to the size of the environment.. If this is true; it explains why there were only two small fish in the tank when inside our home; and why they bred and grew when in the larger space of the pond.

      God bless.

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