Thanks Jpsdad,
I always appreciate ideas. Do you know where to source in my area any of the minnows you recommend?
My main pond will probably only be 1/2-2/3 acre if I can ever get it to fill up.
It's awesome to have a forage pond that is a high proportion of the surface area of the pond it services. Yours is close is between 12 and 15% and that is can be and probably has been very meaningful for your fish in the main pond.
I'll start with Gambusia:
OK. So Gambusia are very easy to find if you have a little time to find them. The best situation is to look for them locally where nature has selected them for your locale. Just look for small public waters that are weedy around the edges. Google maps is a good way to find that water. Specifically, look for parks with natural edges to their ponds (not concrete). You can collect gams very effectively with a $1.00 insect net from a dollar store or one of the mesh type with .25" holes. The latter will only retain the larger pregnant females (smaller minnows will slip through the mesh). You just need 10 or 20 to populate your forage pond. By next July, you will be removing thousands of Gams to put in your main pond. Many of them will be birthing fry in your main pond. There are Ebay sellers that sell small quantities of GAMs for $27 including but I can't say they are G. affinis. If you can't locate them in your neighborhood, feel free to reach out to me by PM. I won't sell them to you but would be glad to mail you a start cost free to you. I only would ask that you pay it forward by helping others near you obtain stock while paying attention to the destination they are going.
Snipe is growing RSH and I think with a mind to do that commercially. Reach out to him and keep the business within the family if he will supply you in Misery (as Augie calls it). Otherwise, both RSH and SFS are native in streams in your area. Bill's recommendations for egg collection will work for either species. RSH is more of a generalist in terms of spawning substrate, however, even using BG and LMB nests to spawn. They can be caught in minnow traps too. I find them in good numbers in shady pools about 2 feet deep in streams that are about 5 feet wide. I usually see them in good numbers of breeding adults from April through July.
