On Friday I had some new fish arrive from http://www.jonahsaquarium.com/ so I headed down to the farm to stock them. I had 50 Greenfin Shiners, 50 spotfin shiners, 50 bluntnose minnows, and 30 johnny darters; all arrived alive and well packed. If you are in need of forage fish that are not readily available definitely call Mark at Jonah's Aquarium and see what he can do for you!

I got all the fish acclimated and released them, they all looked to take to the pond well except for some of the greenfin shiners. I saw 4-5 swimming in rapid circles then sinking down before spinning again. I guess they needed to be acclimated longer. An hour after release I saw 3 dead bluntnose minnows but hopefully the rest are good.

The pond is now 4" from full pool and is full of spawning fish. I saw millions of 1/3" fry swimming around the dock which I assume are fhm or gsh. There are schools of shiners swimming all over the place and the shallow areas are chock full of fatheads. I even saw a large crayfish eating what appeared to be a dead fathead. No sign of the grass shrimp and the spiral eelgrass I planted a few weeks ago appears to have disappeared with the exception of four or five plants that do not appear to have grown or spread. The hybrid lillies are still where I left them but have not grown much or spread, hopefully this summer they will take off.

I built a second CD structure for the new minnows to spawn in. On Sunday I saw several fish swimming in and around them so hopefully it is working.

Fish acclimating to the pond temperature:


Johnny Darters:






bluntnose minnows:




Shiners (not sure if these were the greenfins or the spotfins:










Last edited by RockvilleMDAngler; 05/21/12 11:38 AM.