A pet owner was left stunned when he tried to show off his goldfish to his new date – only to discover a giant spider hauling it out of its pond.

Chilling photos show the huge nursery web spider with helpless Cleo dangling out of its jaws while carrying it up a sheer wall.

The terrifying moment was captured by tour guide Jérémy Schalkwijk who had taken Athina Yalias to see the fish in his pond in Barberton, South Africa.

Jérémy claims he watched in awe as the arachnid lowering itself into the pool while clinging onto the edge and then hauling its prey up the wall using a combination of its fangs and front legs.

The 33-year-old was blown away by the ‘crazy’ moment as he believes the fish was double the weight of the determined predator – so he couldn’t resist capturing photos of the bizarre sight.

Jérémy said: “It was a crazy, crazy sight. You don’t see that every day.

I couldn’t believe that a spider would be able to carry something twice its weight like that.

“I’ve never seen something like that before. I knew [the spiders] could fish, but never such a large size.”

“You see it sometimes with small fish like fingerlings, but never with a goldfish. This was twice the weight of the spider.”

As Jérémy rushed to show the once-in-a-lifetime shot to Athina, the pair went back outside to watch the spider’s next move.

But when they returned, the spider and its “dinner” were not surprisingly nowhere to be found.

Jérémy said: “I spotted this on the second date I had with Athina. She is not a real bush woman so she doesn’t have much experience with animals, but she was so impressed.

“When we came back [out] both animals were nowhere to be found.”