**** ONE LESS ***

The front pond shoal,lost one of their members last night......the pretty red and white patched fish,had been a little off colour for a few days and was found cloudy-eyed this morning on the surface.
Of course,cause of death is unknown as fish can suddenly be found floating on their sides,either breathing slowly in short gasps or just not breathing at all.Age may have been a contributing factor,but as the age was unknown,this cannot be deemed as a definate cause.There was no sign of illness,no lumps,no swim bladder problems and he looked relatively well and in fine fettle and of a good weight,so there you go,it´s one of life´s little mysteries,within the fish world.

So now the front pond shoal are down to just 5 and all appear quite well and have weathered the winter,which has been surprisingly mild and we´ve had no ice on either of the ponds,all winter.....for the first time ever.
They are all starting to come up to the surface now,as spring sunshine filters through the budding tree branches,but as we still have the odd frost at night,they are not allowed any food as yet,but it won´t be long now and they seem to sense it.
Oh well,let´s hope we suffer no more losses from either pond and that spring suddenly burst´s through with the promise of a very fine summer !!.

Blub,blub,blub,blub & blub!.