A siren is an aquatic salamander that looks very much like an eel. I think the picture resembles a greater siren. They can grow up to a yard long! And you're right, they only occur in the south & especially southeastern US, none on West coast.
A spiny softshell turtle decided me and the dogs aren't trying to kill it despite being hooked earlier this summer. It's at least a foot in diameter. It was eating fish food about 15ft away from me and the dogs. I believe there are 3 in the tank. Not too common out here but neither are roseate spoonbills and other birds I've seen.
How are you going to know unless you try!
NW TX 2ac main pond fed from 1100ac watershed going through 2 2+ac sediment ponds. 1st filled 10/2018 900BG, 200RES, 200HBG, 100CC and 23# FHM...."Free" BH, GSF GSH, LMB & ??? 75LMB 3/2020 I subscribe!
A siren is an aquatic salamander that looks very much like an eel. I think the picture resembles a greater siren. They can grow up to a yard long! And you're right, they only occur in the south & especially southeastern US, none on West coast.
After a very busy day yesterday cleaning up after have a very large honey locus tree removed, tons of wood to cut and stack, we made today a fun day. After lunch we went fishing in our pond, did not want to clean fish so just played with a big black rubber worm. The BG are a riot hitting and running with the rubber worm. We just laughed and laughed as the BG attacked those rubber worms! Great fun afternoon, no work!
half-acre pond, LMB, HBG, BG, GSH and CC ....goal is to have fun fishing. And I subscribe!
After lunch we went fishing in our pond, did not want to clean fish so just played with a big black rubber worm. The BG are a riot hitting and running with the rubber worm. We just laughed and laughed as the BG attacked those rubber worms! Great fun afternoon, no work!
This little fella came up at feeding time. He took a snip at one of the catfish. He got pretty close I was surprised for the 1st time especially. He got within 10 feet or so.
.75" rain last week and 1.25" yesterday. Very disappointed the pond builder didnt finish the +/-1ac expansion before the rain. Most of the runoff went into the expansion. Doubtful it will dry up before the next big rain...I suspect it will be next summer before it is cleaned up. Doggy paradise.
Neat site anthropic...I wonder how long they would last? I'm afraid they would be like fathead minnows as far as survivability in a pond with predators. There used to be a bait shop near Lake Fork that sold live mud-puppies. I have a hunch 50 placed in my pond might not last even a week.
Wonder if I could stash them in the forage pond & feed them. Sounds crazy, but they'd be ideal to fatten up LMB if they could reproduce & thrive in a protected environment.
You'd think they would be heat tolerant, as they are found all across the South. However, the waterdog site mentioned the importance of keeping them in cool, dark place. Perhaps it's best to stock them when temps drop, much the same as fish.
Mowing and feeding, mowing and feeding. Don't want to catch anything in the very warm waters. Ponds are getting low. We have received a little over 3 inches rainfall this month, all in small bits. One nearby place has received almost 11.5 inches.
Wonder if I could stash them in the forage pond & feed them. Sounds crazy, but they'd be ideal to fatten up LMB if they could reproduce & thrive in a protected environment.
If you do the status quo, you should expect the status quo.
Raising reptiles for forage could be very cool. I've had good luck at my hatchery pond by stocking RBT in the winter, and then doing the tilapia deal in the summer. Reptiles could fill the late Feb to May down time. That would be a heck of a forage rotation.
Just an afterthought, but it hasn't been that many years since tilapia and HSB were verboten in private ponds, but now they're a mainstay. Somebody had to be first.
Al have you ever considered the trout winter forage stocking? I suppose the trout in the winter would have a shorter window than the Tilapia which last thru spring/summer/fall. Tilapia last 6-6.5 months here in North Texas and Trout would last what like 4 months? Plus tilapia probably reproduce at a much higher rate? Not sure the trout would reproduce at all in North Texas?
Mark, I've bought the 3-4" RBT from Overton's, and raised them to 8-10" for forage. Just my experience, but they are a blast to raise, and grow really fast if you feed them pellets, and stock a good number of FHM's also. The small ones jump out of the water when they feed, and it's quite the show. They're also the easiest fish I've ever raised to seine out. They like the more open water in the middle of the hatchery pond, so dropping the water level to make sure you get them all isn't really necessary. They don't stay close to the bank like CNBG.
I've seen them swimming the big pond banks as late as mid March. I'm not sure how long they would live here because they disappeared PDQ. It pretty much depends on the water temps, and if you have O2, which I don't. I guess they're more of a treat than anything else, but it's a fun relatively cheap project for the amount of good they do for LMB.
Zep, as I understand it trout will not reproduce in our ponds. However, they can make good forage, better than BG, due to fusiform shape. I think they'd survive 6 months where I am, Nov-April. Fit well with TP to cover almost the entire year.
Seriously thinking about waterdogs. I can see it in 2025: Purina Waterdog Chow, with a pic of Bob Lusk holding up a giant specimen!
I'm getting way above my pay grade, so I hope any of our northern members would chime in with their thoughts.
Anthropic, I started with 1/8" Cargill, and finished up with 1/4" pellets. As with most fish, they started lightly eating the pellets, but once they settled in it was total chaos. At Todd Overton's advice, I also added FHM's at the same time as the RBT. They wiped those out almost immediately.
I wondered the same thing about stocking them on top of CNBG, and my WAG guess is that they would do well. The CNBG would slow down their feeding with the colder water, and the RBT would thrive at those same temps. I'm not sure if the spiny CNBG would beat them up during seining though.
If targeted for forage, then they only need to be raised until they hit whatever length the majority, or the targeted size, of the LMB you are wanting to feed can eat.
Mark, I stocked them in December both times I had them. The first batch was for fly fishing in the hatchery pond, and I think those were stocked at around a pound a piece. I would think a 1# RBT would be too big for the majority of the average LMB in a pond. Again, only a guess. IIRC, I got 100 for the forage sized RBT, and they filled up both 60 gallon vats on my transport tank by the time I pulled them.
Thanks for the info, Al. One advantage of RBT is that if you buy or feed them up to around 1 lb, only larger LMB could eat them, maybe 2.5 lb and up. Fattening trophies is a good idea. And then you could stock TP in April or May when RBT die out due to heat.
Maybe I'll add them to my CNBG forage pond and see what happens. If necessary, I can drain it directly into my main BOW this fall.