Stocking my little pond

[EddieWalker]

A few years ago I had a low spot on my place that would hold about a foot or two of water for awhile after it rained and was a muddy mess.

I drained it, let it dry out and than dug it out with by backhoe. I tried to use a small John Deere 450G dozer on it, but it wasn't big enough, or heavy enough to dig through the clay. My backhoe did the job, but it was slow going and took me two months of non stop work.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

It's about five feet deep through out most of it except for one spot thats a foot or two deeper and another area that's 8 to ten feet deep.

It took a few months to fill up from the rains, but it's never cleared up. During the drought last year it got realy, realy low. I threw in the sheetrock scraps for the gypsum to clear it up, which worked great.

When the rains came back and it filled up again, it went back to it's normal muddy color. I'm going to put gypsum in it again to clear it up and after that was planning on putting a few fish into it.

Meadowlark came by and said it was fine for putting fish in it.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

The reason Meadowlark was in the area was to buy some Copper Nose Bluegill from Tyler Fish Farms. I didn't know I had such a great fish supplier so close to me!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

While in the area, he wanted to see my lake project and share some of his knowlege with me. It's really nice to hear what I'm doing right and things that might be wrong or that lead to problems down the road. Thanks Meadowlark!!!

A few days after his visit, I went to Tyler Fish Farms and told them that I had a 3/4 acre pond that has never had any fish in it and I wanted to stock it for the kids to be able to catch stuff, but I didn't have any preferences to what.

I just wanted a good initial stocking so that I didn't have to deal with it again and one that would be self sufficient.

They said to put in 300 4-6 inch channel catfish. I asked about blue catfish and they said that blue's have too many desiese and parasite issues. Then 200 small copper nose blue gill and three pounds of fathead minnows.

It sounds like allot of fish, but I was told it's not and that I was understocking the pond. Too many fish will stunt their growth and they wont reproduce either. Less fish will encourage growth and spawing!!

I had no idea of what it would cost and was very suprised when the bill was $155 for all of it.

In the picture you can see the bags are full of air. It's actually pure oxygen that they use to help the fish while transporting them.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I was told to put the bags in the water and let the pond water mix with the water in the bags before letting them go. They said it only takes a few minutes to mix, and then let them go.

Here are the catfish. Notice the white one? There were three of them, but I don't know what that means. Will they always be white, or will they change color like the others?

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Another picture of the catfish.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm pretty sure this is a picture of the bluegill, but not 100 percent. It gets kind of confusing taking pics while letting them go and trying to figure out who's who later on. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

These are the fathead minnows. Three pounds doesn't sound like allot considereing they are the main food source. The guys at the fish farm said they are going to spawn really soon and that there will be plenty for the bluegill and catfish to eat.

I didn't have a single floater when I let them go and so far we haven't seen any either. It's hard to believe that they all survived, but it's looking pretty good. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Eddie

 

[Jimbrown]

I am jealous as I can be. I have an old stock tank that I am slowly digging out but we get so little rain I doubt I will ever get it to hold water all year unless i pump water into it.

 

[Freds]

OK, I don't know a thing about ponds, but don't they fed with fresh water from a spring or artesian well or something? What keeps the water fresh and oxygenated for the fish? I would love to put a small pond in one area of my property that is slowly turning to wetland/marsh, but thought they needed a more regular water supply than rain.

/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[DannyD]

Eddie, We are putting some white channels in our little pond this year to help clean up the bottom some. These are sold thru pet stores, but they are in fact pond channels.