Red Pepper, Hot Sauce, and Hyacinths

Our goldfish pond has been a yucky, horrible green all summer.  The problem is our precious Gus.  He truly LOVES the pond. He likes to balance himself on the stones in the middle and "hunt" for fish. He also doesn't like anything in his pond.  We have tried unsuccessfully to put hyacinths in the pond to help filter it.  As soon as we turned our heads, Gus would promptly drag them out and chew them up. Well, we once again found some hyacinths on the river and got a few extra from Reed's parents.  I told him I thought we were once again wasting our time.  But, Reed filled a spray bottle with water, hot sauce, and red pepper.  He has been spraying the plants for the last few days, and Gus is so far leaving them alone.  I am amazed by how much the pond has cleared up in such a short time.  I am still a little doubtful that Gus is not going to chew them up again, but so far so good!!  The fish also seem to be very happy about this new development.........

Sunday afternoon you couldn't see a fish.  Hyacinths are amazing!  Reed loaded the top and the water filters through there before it gets to the fish.

Not only are the hyacinths amazing, so is the red pepper and hot sauce mixture!  Who knew? I have found a couple of the plants on the outer edge of the pond.  I think he had to quickly drop them after getting a taste.

He was watching me as I was taking pictures of "his" pond.  I truly can't explain how many hours he has spent in this pond.  I know he has to be wondering what he's done to deserve red pepper and hot sauce.....All he really wants is a little taste of goldfish every now and then.

I have to tell you a little about this batch of goldfish.  Earlier in the summer, all but about 5 of our fish died.  We are not sure why.  They were all pretty big and healthy. I also don't think Gus had anything to do with it either.  Well, my friend Jean and I ventured north about 10 miles to purchase some more from a bait store.  I had called ahead to make sure they had some before we went.  However, when we got there, they were a little reluctant to sell. At first he dipped out 3 or 4.  I had to ask at least twice for more. After assuring them that I had only honorable intentions concerning these fish (no use as bait for these little guys), they finally let me have 10.  The man even told me that the biggest one had been in the tank for a year and a half, so he would have to charge me more for him....While I was happy with these, Reed ventured south to another bait store and brought home about 15 more.  This man was happy to sell no matter what my intentions were.  Anyway, all is now well in the world of the goldfish pond.