Thinking about fish for my pond...

Ted

Ted

The pilot formerly known as Twin Engine Ted
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We have a fairly large pond at the back of our property, about 220 x 75 ft if you believe Google Maps. I have no idea how deep it is, but I think it's probably at least 10 feet deep, likely more.

I have no idea what's in the pond currently as far as fish. I'm not back there often, but I have never seen any evidence of fish in the pond. I'm not sure what the previous owners of the property used the pond for.

One of the long term projects is to clean it up, maybe make it fishable eventually. The pond gets a LOT of algae on the top of it during the summer. I'm also sure there's plenty of algae in the bottom. We don't have any sort of aeration in the pond.

One thought has been to put a bunch of fish in to help eat the algae. Catfish have come to mind, but there are a bunch of different kinds of catfish. Really the goal is to reduce algae in the pond all around.

For aeration, it seems solar or wind would work. We have both sun and wind here, although neither are constant. The windmill idea is more appealing since it'd look good on our property and it seems you can put the windmills a good ways away from the pond. To have it by the house would be 400 ft or so from the pond itself.

Curious as to thoughts for what will eliminate the algae the best, what kind of fish to get, etc.

For climate, we are in Kansas. So in winter it will get below 0, although not for too long. In our smaller ponds the fish generally survive the winter pretty well.
 
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o_O Didn't you already discuss on the other thread? I remember suggesting catfish is why I'm wondering.
 
We had a big vegetation/algae problem in our pond at work. We bought triploid grass carp. They are similar to the carp you see in some of the YouTube videos that jump out of the water. The ones in the river I believe are White Amur, which is an invasive species. The triploid grass carp, on the other hand, are sterile and can't reproduce. They live for a very long time. I believe that some of the fish in our pond are pushing 20 yrs old.
 
mscard88 said:
o_O Didn't you already discuss on the other thread? I remember suggesting catfish is why I'm wondering.
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I'm old and forgetful, didn't you remember that? ;)

Yes, it came up in another thread, but I wanted a dedicated thread. There were also some people who said the catfish wouldn't help with anything on the top of the pond. So trying to get some additional info.

One thing I'm seeing is goldfish should eat algae wherever. Our front ponds (which are mostly just stocked with goldfish/koi, some of which have gotten pretty big) are doing well. However those ponds we also treat.
 
eman1200 said:
this one?
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That was about the other two ponds.

The property has three ponds. The two discussed in the thread you mentioned are the tiny ponds by the house. I'm now talking about the big pond in the back of the property.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
That was about the other two ponds.

The property has three ponds. The two discussed in the thread you mentioned are the tiny ponds by the house. I'm now talking about the big pond in the back of the property.
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I don't have any particular interest in which pond, I was just seeing if that was the thread mscard was referencing. besides, isn't the thread about algae and not pond one two or three? wait, again, I don't really care, but seems like algae is algae and if you're putting the banhammer on algea in one pond, should be similar in another pond.
 
Put a whole bunch of as many different kinds of fish you can in. Let nature take its course
 
eman1200 said:
I don't have any particular interest in which pond, I was just seeing if that was the thread mscard was referencing. besides, isn't the thread about algae and not pond one two or three? wait, again, I don't really care, but seems like algae is algae and if you're putting the banhammer on algea in one pond, should be similar in another pond.
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As you can imagine, sometimes I just run out of time to banhammer everything that needs banhammering. I do fully agree with your sentiment, though. Consistent banhammering for all!
 
Our pond is stocked with Blue gill, Crappy s and small mouth Bass. we are thinking about adding several Carp to help with the vegetation. Last summer was the worst, you'd cast out and pull in long strands of weed. The Carp, i'm told, eat it all away. The Mrs. just completed the paperwork for a permit, which is requirement where we live.
 
I was just curious! Easy everybody shesh!

I'd put sharks in that thar pond.
 
I would guess we have about 20 of the triploid grass carp in our pond, which is about 280 ft. long and about 80 ft. wide. They school together in the summer right near the top of the water. Some of them (I'm guessing the oldest) are as big as my leg!
 
Dwarf Caiman FTW

 
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@KRyan the triploid grass carp sound interesting, will have to look those up.

I'm thinking of starting just by buying some cheap feeder goldfish and mosquito fish to throw in while I consider an aeration system of some sort.
 
We had a farm pond in Illinois, it was a quarter acre, IIRC. It tended to grow algae, as most farm ponds do. We were advised to put largemouth bass in it, then wait a year or two, and add some bluegill. We did add the bass, never did get around to adding the bluegill. A couple years after the pond got stocked, a couple of my dad's friends tried fishing in it, and came up with some pretty impressive bass.
 
James331 said:
Dwarf Caiman FTW

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Reminds me of one semester of college. One of my classes met in a small room in the lower levels of the Natural History Museum on campus. I'd have to walk through some of the corridors that weren't normally open to the public. This was where they kept the indigenous snakes, and every now and then I'd stop and watch feedings. Fun times.
 
Are you sure it's algae and not duckweed or mealweed? Those two can cover the pond completely in very short order. But to clear algae out of a pond your best best is triploid carp. They will eat everything plant wise. Then in any case you likely have high nutrients hence the problem. Aeration will be a must. How is the pond fed, spring, run off??
 
simtech said:
Are you sure it's algae and not duckweed or mealweed? Those two can cover the pond completely in very short order. But to clear algae out of a pond your best best is triploid carp. They will eat everything plant wise. Then in any case you likely have high nutrients hence the problem. Aeration will be a must. How is the pond fed, spring, run off??
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The pond is fed by runoff. It's at a low point for the surrounding properties - basically the ground goes up in any direction. So I would imagine there are a lot of nutrients in the water that go in. None of our neighbors do farming specifically, but there are horses on one side and cows on another. We just have our normal pets and wildlife, so nothing from our side. However there are also farm fields around in general which I'm sure have runoff that's higher in nutrients. I'm not sure if it's duckwood or mealweed. With that said, I don't think the surrounding ponds have aeration either, and they don't have this level of algae/whatever.

If we do aeration, I see either wind powered, solar powered, or run electric from the house out there for an electric one. It's about 600 ft from the house to the pond. Open to ideas on that...
 
We have largemouth bass, blue cats, bluegill, and red ears in our pond. Similar size, maybe 20ft deep after we cleaned it out. They get fed once a week with floating feed. No aeration. Almost identical situation to you before we drained it and cleaned it out.
 
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I think you want to find an old windmill and instead of a water pump, use a belt to connect it to an air pump. a water pump will have you constantly keeping the intake clean, whereas an air pump should be pretty low mx.
being in KS, i bet you could find an old, small windmill, buy it, and convert to air.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
... Consistent banhammering for all!
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Nah. Capricious, random banhammering is far more effective. Keeps everyone fearful and respectful. Like we're living in Russia or something. ;)

As for the pond, I'd fill it in and use the space to extend the runway. :thumbsup:
And all those trees? They should be removed as a hazard to air navigation. :yes:
Man was meant to control and subjugate nature, not assist it running rampant. You can always get fish at Jarocho if you must.
Sheesh, next thing you know we will be hearing you gave up burning leaded avgas or something...:fingerwag:
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
One of the long term projects is to clean it up, maybe make it fishable eventually.
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We brought a 1 acre pond back from the dead about 7 years ago. Most states offer free pond advice through their Wildlife and Fisheries Departments. Contact one of your local regional fish biologists and see if you can get them to visit and determine what you need.

If your algae problem is mostly a summer "bloom" problem, most recommendations have you use Copper Sulfate to knock it down--one half of the pond at a time to prevent oxygen depletion. If you have other types of pond growth then there are other treatments to get it under control before adding your fish. We had to mechanically remove the excess coontail and other plants before we could get any chemicals to really work.

Once we got the plants knocked down we added the Triplod Carp mentioned above. Catfish don't cut it. Some states require permits to order/stock these carp but they are eating machines. They'll eat 7X their body weight weekly for the first 7-10 years then slow down after that. Dunns Fish Farms in OK sells the carp and any other fish you need. Plus they usually have a set delivery schedule throughout the mid west/southern states where they take orders then the delivery truck hit local co-ops in the area and you pick up your fish.

The main point is to identify the problems, check the oxygen levels, and see if you can get a state biologist or college fisheries guy out to look at the pond. Just throwing fish (money) doesn't always lead to the desired results.
 
The places I learn things! Tripoliod has a very special meaning to us geneticists, it denotes three sets of chromosomes. You are all (hopefully) diploid, meaning you have two sets of chromosomes. Triploidy in humans is lethal, indeed having an extra chromosome is incompatible with viability except for chromosome 21 and the sex chromosomes (the Y chromosome is small and end poor, too many X chromosomes are inactivated epigenetically). I would not have thought you could create a viable triploid vertebrate until this evening. Many thanks for something I didn’t know.
 
If'n you gonna eat em, I'd put some crappie and bass in there. Best eatin' fish in my opinion. If'n you need ta get rid of some algae, put some grass carp in there.

I've fished many a farm pond in my day. Lack of aeration never seemed to hurt anything.
 
OkieFlyer said:
If'n you gonna eat em, I'd put some crappie and bass in there. Best eatin' fish in my opinion.....
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If’n yous gonna eat em, throw some salmon filet or tuna steak in there. Now THATS some good eatin.
 
mscard88 said:
I'd put sharks in that thar pond.
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eman1200 said:
If’n yous gonna eat em, throw some salmon filet or tuna steak in there. Now THATS some good eatin.
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Eh, different strokes for different folks. I'd take a mess of crappie over a salmon or tuna any day of the week. The only fish I've ever had that tops good ol' crappie is the haddock served at a little riverside fish n' chips joint in Doune, Scotland. Which also happens to be the setting for the "I fart in your gen'ral direction" scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
 
OkieFlyer said:
Eh, different strokes for different folks. I'd take a mess of crappie over a salmon or tuna any day of the week....
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As usual I’m lacking in the humor department. I was jokingly suggesting to stock a pond with filets and steaks.....of any kind. Just happened to pick salmon/tuna.
 
eman1200 said:
As usual I’m lacking in the humor department. I was jokingly suggesting to stock a pond with filets and steaks.....of any kind. Just happened to pick salmon/tuna.
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Not that it will make you feel any better because my humor seems to suck as well but I got your joke.

But I do think that before you suggest tossing tuna and salmon steaks into a pond that you toss them in my freezer first.
 
I just realized...

Now that I’m an MU-2 pilot I should be stocking the pond with fish that would be suitable for sushi.
 
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