My first stab at a pond has been largely a failure. It's a kiddie pool with dirt bottom. No plants seem to grow in it, only gambusia survive in it, and honestly, between its dilapidated state and green summer water, it's ugly as anything. But those rotten gambusia loooooove it. The hotter it gets, the happier they are. I started out with a handful of them two summers ago. Now there's a few dozen of what have to be the most inbred fish in SC. They froze near solid two winters ago but survived. Last spring I tossed in a couple very young sunfish to try to knock back their numbers. No dice, sunfish died. Gambusia thrived. The pond must've been 99% frozen this past winter, and still the gambusia lived.
Then today, I saw this...
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1 downloadsCould it be?! A little snooping around turned up this handsome fellow-
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0 downloadsLook at the operculum on that little stud! Not only has he survived freezin', and roastin', all the neighborhood kids and cats and raccoons, he was growing and maturing into quite the specimen. A specimen lookin' for a lady, at that!
The happy ending, best part? Mrs. Fish Nerd said, "Maybe you should get him a girl." Guess what I'm doing Sunday evening!