Dozens of Goldfish

 

 

"Harmony with land is like harmony with a friend; you cannot cherish his right hand and chop off his left. That is to say, you cannot love game and hate predators... The land is one organism."

― Aldo Leopold

I accidentally leave the hose running into the pond, and instead of a few minutes, it ran for a few hours. The result is a very full pond, like after a big rain. Wow! All of the goldfish come out to explore the newly underwater places. For the the first time since putting them in, I count all of the original goldfish. All have survived! None missing!

What an elegant little whorl of life the pond has given rise to! With the fish, the little world of the pond feels complete now. I decorate the pond some more with pretty rocks, driftwood, shells and crystals.

 

Pearly and Grey, the pond pearls, are separated for the moment. Pearly is getting deflated and no longer floats freely, so I bring her up to a resting place on the sandy beach.

 

As the person of the pond I feel a little taste of the joy and responsibility of creation. I am about to feel the down side, too. The flood has revealed the finger long babies from the first spawn, dozens of them, at least fifty. Only about one out of four has its bright orange, white and black coloration coming in, the rest are still in fish camo. But this count doesn't even include the more numerous tiny fry, the ones from the second spawn, which are now about an inch long.

 

Whew! Even I know that many fish can't fit in the tiny pond. So I wish for the heron and the ducks to come visit. Sure enough the heron, and a wood duck do come. I see a dark shadow out of the corner of my eye and look up to behold the huge wingspan of the great blue heron as it descends upon the pond.

 

I happen to be looking as it catches one of the big, hand sized, bright orange, original goldfish, and gulps it down in a second. Hey! You were supposed to eat the little ones! I do not know if the heron got Orangey, or Minny-olla, or tang-Irene, or sat-Sue-ma. It stays for an hour, and I think it does get a few little ones too.

"Remove the predators and the whole ecosystem begins to crash like a deck of cards" - Brian Skerry