Pond Boss
Posted By: roundy Minnow species? - 04/21/19 10:33 PM


I set a minnow trap to see how my forage stock was doing, Trap was probably about 20% full, I was really surprised on the volume of the catch. All seemed very frisky and healthily.
Red circle seems like male fhm
Blue seems like gsh
Green circle I’m unsure of, what do you think it is?
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: Minnow species? - 04/22/19 03:20 AM
I don't see anything in the picture that looks like GSF. I have a bunch of them.

Both the blue and green may be shiners, emerald maybe.
Posted By: roundy Re: Minnow species? - 04/22/19 03:36 AM
Duh.... I meant Golden Shiner on the blue circle, thanks for correcting my abbreviation. The red circle I thought was fathead minnow due to protruding spots on head. Green circle might be a shiner, just looks different in shaded light. Thanks for reply.
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Minnow species? - 04/22/19 01:54 PM
The pictures are not the best shot for photo-identification. For a good It would help to know what has been previously stocked in the pond to aid in a 'guesstimate' identification. Definitely fish in red circle is a FHM as does most fish in the picture. One in green circle is a shiner and likely a golden shiner if they were previously stocked, same with the one in the blue circle guessing only by the shape of the dorsal fin and scale pattern. Very few shiner species other than GSH will reproduce in a pond habitat.
Posted By: roundy Re: Minnow species? - 04/22/19 03:30 PM
I have stocked 5# of FHM twice. Once about 18 months ago and then again last fall. I stocked GSH last spring if I remember right. Finally getting 2-acre pond full and bare earth covered in grass. Hopefully, water will clear some in the coming year. Thanks for your input.
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: Minnow species? - 04/23/19 01:39 AM
Based on what you have stocked the minnows in the net are FHM with a few golden shiners mixed in; both appear to be thriving and the offspring growing.
Posted By: roundy Re: Minnow species? - 04/23/19 03:24 AM
Thanks for the confirmation. It looked to like things were on track, but I still have my training wheels with this pond miestering. Pictures of the gsh a year ago look about the size of the small fhm in the above picture. They should spawn this year, I assume.
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: Minnow species? - 04/23/19 09:30 AM
Originally Posted By: roundy
Duh.... I meant Golden Shiner on the blue circle, thanks for correcting my abbreviation. The red circle I thought was fathead minnow due to protruding spots on head. Green circle might be a shiner, just looks different in shaded light. Thanks for reply.


It wasnt your abbreviation, it was my not reading your post correctly. My apologies.
Posted By: SetterGuy Re: Minnow species? - 04/23/19 02:49 PM
My guess is you ur GS (golden shiners) will continue to reproduce and heavily. So will the FHM. I used to think I had so many FHM, that they could never be knocked down. I also have a lot of pallets out for them (to reproduce.) I was worried about my GS population because so many got entangled in the grass netting I put down to control erosion when the pond was filling. Then my SMB matured, my YP reproduced, and “possibly” my HSB matured (or all died off, I’m not sure, because I’ve not caught one) and just like that, I can’t find a FHM. I still have a lot of GS. So many that I’ve started removing the largest ones. Grandkids catch them often with worm and bobber.
So far my SMB seem fat and happy.
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