Goldfish surviving an ice tomb!

Some of you will know that I have a couple of goldfish, they have featured here in the occasional post, in a small garden pond. Nothing elaborate, but always for me, an area to sit and enjoy the peace, of the garden, particularly when my mobility gets challenged, and most certainly provided respite during the fist lockdown.

Like much of the UK, the last week or so, we've endured some very cold temperatures, and while the minimum temps were nothing new, the dampness of the air has been quite high.

As a result, the pond fountain,as all winters, does distribute some water onto the netting, which is there to keep predators at bay, so this initially was no surprise. The pump kept pumping, the ice was thick, and as most winters, there is no way to judge the thickness or even the water volume underneath.

One morning, on my morning wonder down the garden, the pump was making a noise, akin to no water type noise. Subsequent investigation revealed the pump was no longer in water, it was solid ice!

Shock/horror

Though you can't see from this photo, but there was NO water at the bottom of the pond, the pump had inadvertently distributed the water onto the ice above it, not something I could see at the time, and I think most normal mobile people would also struggle to see what was actually happening. The pump was kept on to keep some circulation which would normally have aided aerated water for the fish and other pond like.

No water, the fish would almost certainly have been entombed in ice, which is not good. There was nothing I could do, other than wait until the thaw and assess the damage from there, the main concern, rapid thawing would mean rapid body decomposing, not something I wanted, added to that, my current mobility isn't conducive to any pond maintenance.

The rapid overnight thaw came as forecast, and that following morning, I did my morning wander down the garden to check the pond out, and I nearly died!

There was two goldfish, trying hard to swim on their sides in water that didn't reach their dorsal fins!

It was too dark to attempt to do anything, so once the light was adequate, I set about topping the pond up, much to the delight of the fish, they could swim upright and more normally.

Subsequent research, not from what I would call reliable sites, suggests that goldfish, which mine are, rather than fancy goldfish, can survive short periods frozen and not in water. It seems they go into [I'm using the wrong word here] something akin to a cryogenic state.

However, I DON'T recommend trying out that scenario.

I've had those fish for eleven years, and I had planned once I retire, to have another dog. However, post accident, it would be very irresponsible of me to have another dog, and the last few months have endorsed that, so I guess for me, those fish are my successful substitute to another dog.

So here's to another elven years with those goldfish, and also seeing those fabulous photos of other peoples dogs and hearing/reading of their exploits.