How To Move With 2,400 Fish

YORBA LINDA – Gwen Running Bear doesn't mind being out of her house.

It's 2,400 fish out of water that has her concerned.

Running Bear, 46, owner of Koi-A-Bunga, has run her business on a 4,000-square- foot property on Rose Drive for the last four years. She's been unable to come to a lease agreement with the current landowner, so she and her colorful fish are looking for a new pond to call home.

"I don't know what I am going to do. I've got to keep my family together," she said. "I just can't put them all in a swimming pool."

For the last few weeks, Running Bear has been packing up and shipping her fish to friends while she looks for a new place to restart her business. By today, she and her fish will move out.

Door-to-door

Koi-A-Bunga has been a part of Orange County since 1999 when Running Bear started the company in Fullerton as a door-to-door business. She made house calls for koi owners who needed health advice for their fish or guidance in building and maintaining a koi pond.

Once her business started she discovered there was a whole world of "koi addicts" out there who appreciated the jewel-colored ornamental designs of the fish.

"They have the same soothing power as dolphins," Running Bear said. "They relax people, and it takes them down a notch. Makes people feel like they can handle life."

Sherrie Cummiskey, President of the Nishiki Koi Club of Orange County, met Running Bear when she and her husband were thinking about putting a pond in the back yard of their Yorba Linda home three years ago.

Has personality

"If someone would've told me three years ago that fish had personality I would've asked them, 'What planet are you from?'" she said.

"But they are just like cats and dogs. It's really an addicting hobby and once you get started, you're all guns out and it's everything and anything for your fish."

Running Bear refers to her 2,400 fish as her "girls or boys" and she speaks of them as family.

There's "Button," a smaller koi fish who lost an eye and may not survive the move, and then there's "Bonnie," a silver-showcase fish who has a penchant for kissing people on their hands. The fish always take care of one another, never fight, love Cheerios and go nuts when she dishes up krill.

It's because of them that she'll keep trying to get her business back up and running.

She's got fish to think about: "I am not quitting. I'll be back."