My Green Terrors' lives are filled with bizarre happenings it seems. Today,an event occurred that, given a few more minutes, would have ended in a tragic death of one of my two male GTs. As you have seen in my other pond videos, the GT pair has been doing very well. The female is still tending her spawn after a week of the babies being free swimming, and the male cruises around like he is a Cock-of-the rock. After feeding the pond at noon, I went about my day's business. At around 5 pm, I thought I'd go outside to check the pond. As I walked along side of it, I caught a glimpse of a fish laying on the concrete. It was the male GT, looking stiff and lifeless, with litter stuck all over it. Its eyes had that glassy, blank stare of death. I quickly picked it up and he seemed stiff and somewhat dried out. I held him in the pond and there was no movement of the mouth, gills or eyes. His mouth was clamped shut, so I pried it open (and I've done this several times before - sometimes successful 
, sometimes not 
) I moved him back and forth and after a minute or so, he started breathing, and his eyes tilted down. I put him in a net and after laying on his side for a bit, started to swim about. As I'm writing this, he is still in the net recovering. Question: What would have possessed this fish to jump out of the pond? In the past 8 years since I've had the pond, I've never had this happen (aquariums yes, pond no). Was he trying to catch an insect at the surface and launched himself? Did a 'beani' or a Red Ceibal give him an unsuspecting nip, startling him? Did he think he was a Cock-of-the-rock and tried to take flight? 
Who knows. The main thing is he's a survivor and will swim "to fight another day". Here are a couple of pictures (I had to grab the camera) of the "nearly deceased", just as I picked him up (and washed him off) , after giving him mouth to mouth, and a few minutes after he came back to life.
, sometimes not ) I moved him back and forth and after a minute or so, he started breathing, and his eyes tilted down. I put him in a net and after laying on his side for a bit, started to swim about. As I'm writing this, he is still in the net recovering. Question: What would have possessed this fish to jump out of the pond? In the past 8 years since I've had the pond, I've never had this happen (aquariums yes, pond no). Was he trying to catch an insect at the surface and launched himself? Did a 'beani' or a Red Ceibal give him an unsuspecting nip, startling him? Did he think he was a Cock-of-the-rock and tried to take flight? Who knows. The main thing is he's a survivor and will swim "to fight another day". Here are a couple of pictures (I had to grab the camera) of the "nearly deceased", just as I picked him up (and washed him off) , after giving him mouth to mouth, and a few minutes after he came back to life.
