Instant Pond

[bindian]

Friday, I took a road trip up past Centerville. Overton Hatcheries sold me 50 Channel catfish and 5 pounds of Fathead minnows. The Channel cats are 8-11 inches long. I couldn't buy smaller ones. Later this summer, I'll go back for Blue catfish.
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

From what I know, you do not want to mix blue and channel cats. And you don't want blue cats if you have a small pond. And anything less then ten acres is a small pond. What will the catfish eat? The minnows are too small to support them. Will you be adding bluegill to feed the catfish? or will you feed the catfish every day with floating catfish food? Catfish are a predator fish. Rule of thumb is 100 pounds total weight for all predator fish per surface acre of the pond. That's ten catfish that weigh ten pounds, or 50 that weigh 2 pounds. As they grow, they need to be thinned out. As they reproduce, they really need to be thinned out!!! You only want one predator fish in a small pond. I have just the channel cats in my small 3/4 acre pond, but messed up and put both channel cats and large mouth bass in my bigger 4 1/2 acre pond. If I could go back in time, I would not have put the channel cats in the bigger pond.

 

[bindian]

From what I know, you do not want to mix blue and channel cats. And you don't want blue cats if you have a small pond. And anything less then ten acres is a small pond. What will the catfish eat? The minnows are too small to support them. Will you be adding bluegill to feed the catfish? or will you feed the catfish every day with floating catfish food? Catfish are a predator fish. Rule of thumb is 100 pounds total weight for all predator fish per surface acre of the pond. That's ten catfish that weigh ten pounds, or 50 that weigh 2 pounds. As they grow, they need to be thinned out. As they reproduce, they really need to be thinned out!!! You only want one predator fish in a small pond. I have just the channel cats in my small 3/4 acre pond, but messed up and put both channel cats and large mouth bass in my bigger 4 1/2 acre pond. If I could go back in time, I would not have put the channel cats in the bigger pond.

Yes to all. About mixing blues and channels. I did not know that. I know the blues get huge, but thinnng by "Catch and Fry" will work. Definite no to bass. Floating catfish food. It took 3 days for them to find right after I throw it in. I have been toying with the idea of redears or bluegills.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

The pond has gone down enough to mow at the water's edge. Well, not quite enough on the uphill side. I got stuck twice before giving up until drier. When I rebuilt the pond, I sloped it shallow enough to mow. I mowed two of the three sides.

Mowing the grass gives no cover to the huge red ear slider that moved it. He is sneaky and must have 20/0 vision. I have to shoot from the deck, where this photo came from, all the way across the pond to where he suns. I use Dad's old Winchester pump 22. It doesn't shoot well now, as the front sight is off to the right when sighting down the barrel. But I am bracketing him with shoots and time will tell if I get him.

Anyway.the pond has arrived and it is pretty. Friday I added 20 Blue cats and 200 Bluegill perch. Next summer I will add aeration.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Xfaxman]

Looks good, like an instant pond should :thumbsup:.

 

[bindian]

Looks good, like an instant pond should :thumbsup:.

That instant pond took 8 years to perfect.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

I figured out between buying cornmeal and pond dye to fight pond algae, I could make up the cost of an aerator in two years. So I bought a Easy Pro PA10W with cabinet and cooling fan from Absolute Aquatics. I took it slow and easy with the installation and am please with the results. I do want to move the aerator more towards the center of the pond. It was hard paddling the boat and taking depth readings by myself, so I will have to try again with help.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Xfaxman]

Interesting,

 

[bindian]

Interesting, View attachment 672083

As Spock would say, Fascinating!
hugs, Brandi

 

[groundcover]

What is a read ear slider ?
Do you use the pond for irrigation or just for the duckies? My pond isn’t as big as yours but works slick for watering. I have the 1 1/2 Honda pump and have poly pipe throughout the property with hose bibs every few hundred feet. Almost all our watering for vegetables and landscaping is done from the pond even though I have well water run to the garden as well. One of these days I will get around to treating with Bentonite to hopefully stop the leaks!