Beside the Stream

It is an unfortunate fact that once you have goldfish living in a garden pond, it is nearly impossible to get them out.  And the reason they have to go is clear from this picture: you see native waterplants, and native snails.  There are native invertebrates in here, and toads living under the rocks around the pond.  But there aren’t any other amphibians.  No frogs, no newts or salamanders, not a single one of those little thin-skinned beauties that make ponds really interesting.  This is the second year this pond has been in place, and as expected it was filled with the eggs of visiting amphibians in the spring.  But these goldfish devoured the eggs, and the few that hatched were eaten as tadpoles. 

Garden ponds need to have fish that eat the mosquito larve.  But they need to be native minnows, because frogs can’t live with goldfish.  I learned this from my sister back in April, and when I researched how to make a healthy native garden pond, NO GOLDFISH was at the top of the list. 

I tried to catch them with a net, and with a strainer.  I said mean things to them.  And I finally realized that they weren’t going to leave until I emptied the pond. 

 Bob said, it’ll take me ten minutes. 

I kept putting it off, because I don’t know how I’m going to catch the native minnows to replace them.  A pond without fish in warm weather is a no-no around here: there is West Nile Virus in the valley, so mosquitoes aren’t just a nuisance, they’re a menace.  But today we finally got rid of the goldfish.  Here is the sump pump, dumping the pond water onto the lawn.

When the pond was empty, I thought that the fish would be flipping around and easy to find.  Instead, they stayed still, hoping not to be eaten.  I had to sift through the bottom muck with my fingers to find them… and I thought there were five but only found four. 

They’re big and very active, and they’re staying on the kitchen counter until tomorrow.   They’re moving to Hesperus, where they’ll live in a big metal tank with a few other goldfish and some flashy, non-native waterlilies.  I wish them a long and voracious life… far away from here. 

And I’m wondering where to catch some minnows.