I would have thought American Pond weed would be good cover/habitat for YOY with all those stems and leaves - both floating and submerged. What is it about it that doesn't work well as cover for the YOY?
FWIW I tried planting several types of vegetation last year. Just small amounts of each to see what would survive the large level swings in a water table pond. The duck potato, creeping rush and yellow lilies did well. One plant, of what I think is American pond weed, showed up last summer. I am hoping it survives and spreads some. Water arum, dwarf cattail, pickerelweed, dwarf sagittaria, soft rush and lizard tail did not do well and I doubt they will survive.
Bill, it's about cover density. Look at the stems of APW, see how far they are apart? Little fish need cover that is closer together, as they grow larger, the spaces between the cover can get larger and larger. My take on it is that 3"-8" fish can swim through that cover VERY easily, and smaller YOY fish don't have places to escape predation that easily, when compared to denser cover. Compare the stems of APW to plants like Coontail, Milfoil, etc. Not saying that THEY are good for a pond, just comparing types of cover.
