The Fish Pond

Yesterday, rain or no rain, I decided that the fish had to be sorted. When we put the new fish in the pond a few days ago I was horrified to see how dirty the water was. As a result I spent an hour yesterday emptying the pond and its gravel and partially re-filling it. There was a lot of gravel and a lot of water. Heavy stuff gravel and heavy stuff water. I also had to move a lot of the bricks that hold the tank in place. By the end of the job I had a migraine, a clean fish pond and an extra fish! When I came to empty the fish out I was surprised to find we had four large ones instead of the three we had just bought. The last of our fish – that we assumed had died over the winter – had obviously been hiding in the plants and dirty water.

Goldfish

We have four ponds in the garden. That makes it sound very grand but in fact they are all very small and one of them is just the bottom of a water tank from a loft, hidden under a hedge. We also have a fish tank on the patio. That is the middle of the same loft tank with a liner laid in it. The last of our goldfish died over the winter so we bought six more yesterday to fill it up again. There are five Comet Goldfish – three medium sized and two small and another small goldfish of a browny grey hue. I am hoping that they will get used to being fed and will gradually start visiting the surface when we come to the pond.

Won at the Fairground

This may look cruel. In fact, it's a sight I haven't seen for many years. But, these bags are not what they might seem.

These goldfish are not swimming in water. They are plastic fish embedded in clear, glycerine soap shaped like "water in a bag". Tied with an orange ribbon. A great party idea. Fun for kids from 1 to 100. Tangerine-grapefruit scent. Measures approximately 6"L from top to bottom, 3"L from bow to bottom; 2 1/2" W x 1 3/4" D.

I don't know if you can get them in this country but if you could get them through Customs - bearing in mind the strictness of Defra's International Animal Health Division - they are available from SpoonSisters.