Last month I put five triploid grass carp in my 1/4 acre pond. We use it for swimming so want to get rid of all the weed growth. I know they won't clean it out in a month.... but is there any "typical" behavior? Haven't see anything since they went in. Do they go deep? Or prefer shallows? Do they go where the vegetation is thickest? Or eat around the edges? I would appreciate hearing your experience with these?

I belong to a fishing club in Ohio (though I seldom get up there to fish anymore). Anyway, they had big issues with weeds (not FA, more like skunkweed) and turned to grass carp.

When the carp were young and growing they did a fine job on it, but as they got bigger they didn't seem to eat as much and the weeds began taking over again. This happened over a period of several years, I think.

One issue they had later was they put in a load of "grass carp" that actually contained silver carp, the ones famous for leaping out of the water when a boat goes by. Ever since then whenever you are on the lake (around 25 acres) on an electric motor (no others allowed), you will hear & see silver carp leaping out of the water and crashing back. Very annoying when you are trying to sneak up on the fish!

Of course, in 1/4 acre pond your control is far greater. With five fish, I believe you should see some results in a few months.

If you feed your fish, you'll see the carp feeding on the pellets. That is the only time I saw them.

I have 5 in my 1 acre pond and I see them all the time. In 8 feet deep and in 2 feet deep digging out weeds from the bottom on the pond. They will eat pellets if they are there. 5 GC in a 1/4 acre pond will scare the mess out of you when swiming once they start to grow up! I have a couple that are now at least 30 inches long maybe longer and large!! I would not want one of them running into me while swimming!

Anthropic is correct after about 7 years or so they start to not do there job very well. So remember when you put them in there and around the 7 to 8 year mark you need to remove and replace if you want more. I did not see mine at first either until they got larger then you will see them trust me!

Keep in mind if you just put them in your pond it may take till next spring until you actually see any results.

RC

We don't feed so the grass carp have only weeds to eat. We have a small beach and slope down gently on one end for swimming. When I put the grass carp in there was literally a wall of weeds at around 3' deep all the way around the pond. It was thick enough to show up on the surface. The kids would swim over it to get to deeper water where their feet wouldn't touch the weeds.

Yesterday I walked in as deep as I could touch and keep my head above water (I'm 5'8") and NO WEEDS!!! At least along the beach. Still a few areas around the steeper sides but there is definite progress. Have only seen a few fin flashes, don't have a good view of how big they are getting.

Which leads to a couple of questions. When the weeds are gone will they eat cattails? Still have plenty of those. We have four (one died about 2 weeks after I put them in). Seems after the initial clean out one or two could keep the weeds in check. What's the best advice to catch them? I have a friend with a serious weed problem and a couple of my GC could do great work in his pond...and have better less crowded lives.

How do you get rid of the older carp once they stop being effective?

Will they bite on dough bait?

Bow and arrow is the easiest way to get rid of them, if you are good with one that is.

Also, in Indiana, to move Triploid Grass Carp from one body of water to another legally, you have to have an aquaculture license (which is free from the state) and you have to report quarterly who got what, even if you had no sales/movement that quarter.