Uwe, I have forgotten to enquire as to your catfish living outdoors in that pond, with all that hot weather you all have been experiencing over there. I hope it has survived what could have been a rather stressful time in that pond. The monitor lizards are indoors, so the aircon should keep them content, although as they are genetically used to hot weather, they may have loved it without the air con. Seriously though, they all have to be able to survive in their own environment, hope they are all ok. Up north from Germany and we know Anton will survive as he is spoilt rotten. Although up there Karin may not have an air conditioner in their abode, as they usually don’t get that sort of weather. Well they probably do sometimes, what would I know. Keep those critters content and happy folks. Cheers.
The catfish died last year, all 1,20 m of him, but not because of heat (catfish love heat and can tolerate low levels of oxygen) or disease, but because of a tragic traffic accident!
Let me explain, the pond is also populated by four sturgeons about the same size as the catfish, namely Ivan, Vlad, Sergej and Natasha. Yes, they are - much like Nick - Russians and therefore a little robust in their social life. Sturgeons are incredibly peaceful, but also incredibly strong, those fish are pure muscle and sometimes have the unfortunate habit of snapping their tails for no good reason at all. The poor catfish must have been too close to them when one of them did just that and it snapped his spine right through just with the impact. No joke, a fish doctor told me that this happens on sturgeon farms quite often (also that they break their own spine by twisting forcefully when taken out of the water), but I didn’t believe her until I had a(n also female) horse doctor with a mobile X-ray contraption (don’t ask me how much it cost to get that to my pond, I could have bought a dozen catfish for that) look at the spine of the poor animal which could not really swim anymore - it was indeed broken at a very crucial place (pretty much where a human’s breastbone would be). That was of course his death sentence, chances that it would heal were slim and the fish died about two weeks later.
The catfish was my favorite and I miss him badly, he had lost all shyness and roamed the pond at night with his gold-yellow look (not an albino, they sometimes have that color in nature too). I’ve bought two smaller new ones, but whether they will share his docile character - although an apex predator by nature, he never attacked or chased other fish in my pond, but was content to munch high quality sturgeon pellets -, who knows?
Of course the unidentified Russian homicidal killer still roams free in my pond! Just joking, I dearly love my sturgeons too and they didn’t mean it - it was a case of awful tough luck. Note: While a sturgeon’s spine is comparatively rigid and built like a tank, a catfish’s spine is more like a soggy macaroni and very flexible, it had no chance against the sturgeon’s backbone in the literal sense of the word.
Getting back to the current heat, my pond is filtered (all water is completely filtered and turned over every two hours or so) and I pump in its roughly 35.000 liters of water about 13.000 liters of air (not oxygen) per hour as warm water progressively loses its ability to store oxygen.
So my fish are safe, but this summer we’re confronted with fish mass deaths in our creeks, rivers, natural ponds and lakes and even large streams like the Rhine because at this temperature the fish’s metabolism is at its peak, yet oxygen in the water is low, so they breathe rapidly through their gills. If you now take into account that fish pee through their gills and release poisonous ammonium that way which can burn their gills in excess, you begin to understand that a fish can poison itself via too rapid gill breathing.
wow this is the first time I’ve heard a man get so attached to a catfish!
I’m sorry about your big boy!
Of course, the pond with certain types of fish is expensive to maintain, It will be a pleasure for your eyes and your senses.
Apart from my 4 felines at home, I have other stray felines that come to eat near my kennel. In recent years, we have cared for 3 of them and managed to have them adopted by people we know
but what I regret this year is that I no longer see the hedgehogs that in previous years also came to eat since they finished hibernating, unfortunately I think that this year with the climate change has thrown off their entire biorhythm and they all died.
I hope to see some new pups at the feeder this fall.
I know, European catfish are viewed as invasive pests in Italy - they grow huge in your climate. Though their image of “eating rivers and lakes empty” is largely undeserved, while they eat basically anything they can swallow, they process what they gulp down economically and sustainably. They are also hugely flexible in switching from one food to another.
Other than that I have my Australian, Vietnamese and African reptiles plus lots of wild critters around the house (we live right before a forest). We have foxes, European snakes, magpies, crows, herons stealing my fish (but they‘re still impressive animals, like pterodactyls), Eurasian jays, rats (the pond attracts them, they are interesting to watch as long as the numbers are contained), martens, squirrels and even a cute, resident and always very curious raccoon, I would never chase it away though it can get quite noisy on our roof!
@KarinVerndal1104 this is a red carpet laid for you, if there ever was one … 
I have several fans all over the place MacGregor - you see being a mature woman hot flashes happen at the most unexpected and unpleasant times 
Anton is not spoiled rotten! He is spoiled adequately and in the right amount 
Red carpet you say? Where?
Anton is a marvellous little doglet! Since 4 o’clock pm, 16.00 Uhr, he has been begging for his dinner…
So now at almost 5 pm I will indeed go to the kitchen and prepare his feast.
What he eats? I can hear you ask?
Well, some kibble, som canned food and some bones afterwards to clean his sharp teeth 
And now we’re talking about food, here comes come diet tips:
I will prepare a salad for this evening’s dinner:
Carrot sliced very thin, cucumbers in little pieces, small cherry tomatoes sliced in two, and some dressing. I prefer honey dressing, honey and mustard and a little pinch of salt and pepper.
For this salad I will prepare some garlic bread too.
I can now hear all you man folk ask:
WHAT ABOUT THE MEAT WOMAN?
And yes, what about the meat?
I love animals so much I do find it difficult to eat them…
So I will instead cook some salmon, because fish aren’t real animals, are they?
Ohhh, maybe Uwe thinks they are but as long as I don’t steal his gigantic monsters, I think I’m ok
Tune in tomorrow for some new diet tips 
When I was on vacation in Malaysia, there was a place where we stayed and often ate. I was well aware that, day by day, they were depleting the catfish in their tanks but luckily, my wife never noticed; otherwise… Years later, when I tell her about it, she refuses to believe it 
Ah, Karin is a so-called speciesist***, some animals are more deserving of human sympathy than others!
***“Speciesism is the assignment of different moral worth, rights, or value to individuals strictly based on their species membership. Coined in 1970 by psychologist Richard Ryder and popularized by philosopher Peter Singer, it describes a systemic bias favoring human or specific animals‘ interests over those of other animals.“
But then to an extent we all are unless you are an absolutely strict vegan.
But I sometimes have fish for dinner and at the same time watch the fish in my pond worried about the heron eating them - now that is weird! 
My spine-broken catfish would have likely been a delicacy if I had put him out of his misery early on, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat him. Well, the raccoon likely had a feast at the catfish’s burial site in our garden. It’s all nature.
That said, I don’t really have an emotional relationship with a catfish or a monitor lizard like I would have with a dog or a cat, but I marvel at them as exotic examples of creation. Our planet has been pretty good at generating a wide array of the weirdest examples of life - let’s keep it that way. I really should have made my childhood dream come true and become a zoologist! Animals, especially those commonly referred to as “ugly”, have always fascinated me.
Sorry to hear the catfish suffered an untimely departure Uwe. Those Sturgeons eh, who would have thought. Yes indeed, the horrible hot and dry conditions, as if the aquatic creatures of our world don’t suffer enough with humans and their incursions into their environments. Now the weather Gods have decided to have a go too. We see and feel this sort of thing often here in Australia. Thanks for the update on that poor ‘little’ fish that is no more. Cheers.
That old catfish would have been too tough and oily to eat wouldn’t he. Best left to Mother Earth to deal with me thinks. That is a problem of sorts when having alarge animals as ‘pets’. When we have to dig a grave for them, if it is in the summer time when the ground is rock hard, large graves can be difficult to dig. Been there, done that. Much better off having a little frog or something similar in size as a pet. Cheers.
“Ah, Karin is a so-called speciesist***, some animals are more deserving of human sympathy than others!”
! Uwe, I love my little dog, I have loved all my dogs (of which two were German Shepherds - and I’m thinking of getting another German Shepherd soon, Anton being 8 yo, he needs a little brother or sister to keep up the good mood. Have always done that: getting a new dog so the old dog live up and can help me raising the new dog) and the cats and birds I’ve had too.
And yes I do not like to eat meat from four-legged animals. But I do if I’m invited out for dinner.
I’m not completely vegan. But I do find it troublesome to eat an animal that can look at me when he is alive.
Call me silly, but I have this notion that fish don’t have that much intelligence.
I do understand people loving meat, and I never wrinkle my nose at such, I just don’t like it.
But all animals are important on this beautiful earth, even spiders (oh the horror 
)
New diet tips:
I have started a new routine in the household of Verndal:
I am juicing vegetables every day at the moment.
Starting each morning with a freshly juiced drink of carrots, cucumbers, apples, lemons, celery, beetroot and broccoli, and when it’s juiced I put in a few ice cubes - OHHH BOY THAT IS DELICIOUS and the rest of the day I have the strength to keep up with people being a nuisance
And the mashed vegetables I save for dinner where I put it on a pan and put in some smashed eggs and a little herbs
Feel free to steal the diet tips
And now I will end this with a little song, this is on repeat in my home at the moment:
https://youtu.be/4ULiSX5yrgI?is=o8Olm494AFzQSJkP
Even I can hear the influence of Beatles
Oh and this one too:
https://youtu.be/jhat-xUQ6dw?is=mPt0WBtxz2_nuau2
Not to forget this fab song 
https://youtu.be/MtFiVyYto4c?is=AJc52hfkEugl5H3W
And this cutie:
https://youtube.com/shorts/QyrvaiE8M0Q?is=qOjV16h0yhpmmvu6
Have a lovely Sunday everybody 
