Earl and I have a condo that fronts a lovely pond. It’s not ours alone (The pond, not the condo), as other homes ring the entire perimeter. It cost more to build your home on the pond, but we believe it’s been worth every penny.
There is drama, however . . .
The goldfish saga: Someone put goldfish in the pond last winter. I’m not sure why, but the result has been an explosion of the goldfish population. Some evenings, when the sun tilts just right, you can see a golden hue shimmering immediately below the water’s surface.
The thing is goldfish multiply like rabbits, leave their waste in the water, and ultimately pollute the pond if there are not other species to handle the balance of nature. We don’t have any of those species yet. We do have one blue heron, who loves goldfish, but it can’t possibly handle the number it would have to eat to help the situation and still be able to fly.
Then there are the geese: Let the record show I do not like geese. They are arrogant, self-centered food processing machines that leave their waste on land. Two geese have plagued our pond all summer; they are huge and loud. And one even came to our front door, begging. I’ve heard geese mate for life, and if this is so, we have the avian answer to “The Bickersons” residing on our pond.
There is also one sole goose who’s arrived recently. It doesn’t bond with The Bickersons; rather it keeps its distance. And while I don’t like the species, I’m saddened that this one is alone. I would feel the same way about a human I knew and didn’t like but would never wish ill toward that person.
Pond life is just a microcosm of the human condition.
Oooh, adding gold fish into the pond was a bad idea… Should have been a native sort… That heron better start feasting.
Perhaps you should think of the goldfish as “koi.” Much classier . . .
An ichthyologist might give you some pointers on how to get the pond into an ecological balance – what goes in goes out.