Family fish rescued from small garden pond after growing to huge 5ft 8in
A FAMILY fish ended up off the scales in his small pond after growing from six inches to a huge 5ft 8in.
Stanley the sturgeon had spent 25 years in the 11ft by 10ft water feature.
Owners Daniel and Jennie Parker and son Tristan this week called in specialists to move him from their garden in Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts.
The diamond back sturgeon now has a new lease of life in a pond four times as big at a private manor in Gretton near Winchcombe, Gloucs.
Tristan, 44, said: “He was only about six inches long and we fed him loads and he just kept getting bigger and bigger.
“But now he has moved from a bedsit to a mansion.”
Jennie said: “It wasn’t fair to keep him in our pond as it was too small.”
Steve Aldridge, of Gloucester Koi Rescue, said: “The owners were under the impression he was about three to four feet long but he was much bigger than that.”
Endangered sturgeon are protected by the Crown in the same way as swans.
They can grow even bigger, with one super-sized 10ft sturgeon caught in Canada.