Shaquille O'Neal now shares his Georgia home with a rather large, scaley resident: a 35-pound Yamabuki koi fish. The 39-inch monster swimmer was introduced to the basketball legend by Ed "The Pond Professor" Beaulieu and the "Pond Guy" Greg Wittstock, who have been building a $500,000 rec pond on Shaq's property.
A recent Instagram video shows the pond builders presenting O'Neal with the huge koi fish. In his Instagram caption, Wittstock wrote that it's the largest he's seen. The fish was shipped through a supplier all the way from Japan.
While Beaulieu suggested the genius name "Shakoi O'Neal" for the fish, Shaq decided to go with "Charles Barkley"—after the former NBA star—as the fish's name.
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The fish was released into O'Neal's existing pond, but it'll soon be moved to its permanent home: a massive new pond on O'Neal's property that reportedly cost $500,000. Beaulieu has dubbed the massive undertaking as "Moving a 1,000,000 Pounds of Rock for Shaq."
The video's title wasn't just for shock value: They literally had to move 1,000,000 pounds of boulders to complete the new pond. The second pond on Shaq's property is also one of the largest Beaulieu has built, as he highlights in his YouTube video.
Once the pond clears, the fish will be introduced to their new aquatic home.
"Spent the afternoon with Shaq!!!" Beaulieu, The Pond Professor, wrote on his Instagram page. "We recently completed his pond (check out the vlogs!) He came home early from his Vacation to see our latest creation as we completely transformed his property......"
Many commenters were impressed with the size of the fish but not the coloring. Some even felt that it looked more like a common carp than a koi.
However, the rather bland coloring is what these fish are known for. The Yamabuki Ogon koi is known for its trademark yellow metallic color. While they might not be as colorful as their orange, black, and white cousins, they are said to be the original metallic koi. Their 1940 breeding led the way to other varieties of metallic koi.
With the gigantic new koi pond ready, we can't wait to see what other monsters Shaq stocks.
READ MORE: The Size of This Golden Koi Caught on a Fly Rod is Stunning
