I fear my hopes last week were dashed, for when I got back from Canada it was to find only five fish in the upright tank. But it turned out that only one had died, for Kavi had rescued the other, the Silver Dollar, and put him in the waterfall pond. I have not however seen him since my return, for Kavi tells me he lurks in the little recess at the bottom, which is the home of the catfish, seven black ones and just one white one now, for the other died a few weeks back.

It seems that the Silver Dollar’s fins, as those of one of the carp, had been damaged, but Kavi saw this in time for him. Sadly the carp, though also transferred to the waterfall pond, did not survive.

All seemed well with all the other ponds, but then a couple of days after I got back there was tragedy in the pond by the dining room. I had added several carp there, gold and red ones, and two black catfish. Though one gold one died soon after I put them there, and there was no trace of the third red one I thought I had put there, the other four and the catfish seemed to get along well with the large gourami and the white Malavi.

I had had my suspicions of the latter however, for three others that had been put there at the same time had died, and I have learnt that this breed can be vicious. And so it was not a great surprise when, after I had fed them one morning, and all eight seemed at ease, I found that one of the carp had had its head bitten off. The Malavi was lurking at the bottom, and I had no doubt of his guilt, nor did Kavi, and he was swiftly moved to the pond under the croton tree.

There seemed to me to have been tension in that pond when the dead little carp was found, but it eased after the Malavi had been removed. I was glad to think that the gourami was not a dangerous creature but Kavi assures me that gourami get on well with catfish and carp. I hope he is correct and that for some time at least there will be equilibrium there.

And then, to cap this week of disaster after I got back, I saw in the waterfall pond one morning one of the red carp with its head bitten off. This did not seem to be the action of another fish, and first I thought it was the stork which had come back and been seen lurking by another pond. But Kavi thinks it must be a polecat, who would have been more adept at grabbing with a paw through the interstices of the net that I had foolishly thought provided protection.

There have been four red carp there for some months now, a big bright red one and then three smaller ones in varying shades of red, and now there seem to be just two, so that it looks like one was consumed with the other one, which I show, decapitated. A lesson to me that this net, which I move every day to feed the fish, must be replaced very carefully, leaving no gaps.

The pictures are of the three dead fish of the last week, all carp, with on either side what remains in the upright tank – all five fish there visible – and in the pond by the dining room where, along with the gourami, you see just one each of catfish and little carp.