We have two YP ponds that are within 20 minutes drive of each other. One of these ponds has mature YP and regularly produces ribbons in the spring. The other pond has some YP but they are not mature enough to spawn. We were thinking about maybe scooping up some of the ribbons and move them to the other pond. I've looked around for other similar posts but unable to find answers to the following questions:

1.) Is it as simple as scooping them up in a bucket and transporting them?

2.) Are there any specific temperatures or conditions that have to be carefully monitored when transporting?

3.) When is the best time to do this as in how many days after the ribbons are laid?


Maybe there is an existing thread that I have not found that someone could point me towards.. If not, I think it would be good to have a step by step process of how to do this.

Have you thought about just moving some mature YP into the pond where you want the ribbons? Do you have the habitat for a YP spawn there. I think a natural spawn will be more successful than a ribbon transfer IMO.

The pond should be conducive to a spawn with the current setup. In fact I would not be surprised to see some ribbons this spring as this is year two for the existing YP. Because they are not not as mature, my back up plan if I did not see ribbons but had an abundance of them in the older pond was to do a transfer. I suppose transferring the fish would be a bit simpler but I was just thinking in terms of a back up plan in the event that I don't get a natural spawn from the 2 year old YP I have.

I move YP ribbons every spring. Simple to do, but yet hard to know what the success rate is. Bill Cody could probably connect you with the science behind it and you can identify viable eggs as they mature by sight alone in the ribbons that you transfer. I would guess if water conditions are very similar that it shouldn't be a problem.

You should pay attention to where in the first pond the ribbons end up (sunny side, shade side) and also what substrate the perch choose. Do they like hard or soft bottom, flat or sloped bottom, exposed clay or do they prefer vegetation? In my pond it is always the South or SW side that gets the first ribbon and even though I put a variety of cover and sticks out for them, they prefer to string them over a bed of oak leaves in surprisingly shallow water. I think the brown leaves help keep the heat in the shallows and they tend to lay eggs in less than 12" of water at least in my pond. They seem to prefer just open water over a bed of leaves to anything else. However they have preferentially laid eggs in a bucket or have swam into a large pyramid minnow trap opening and laid eggs and swam back through the large opening rather than leave them nearby in open water.

Once you know what the perch like in the donor pond you can transplant the ribbons to similar conditions in the recipient pond.

Questions: 1.) Is it as simple as scooping them up in a bucket and transporting them? BASICALLY THAT IS THE METHOD FOR EGG COLLECTION. TRY TO MINIMIZE THE AMOUNT OF TIME THE EGG RIBBON IS EXPOSED TO THE AIR. I COLLECT MY EGG RIBBONS WITH A SMELT DIPPING NET (1/4" MESH).

2.) Are there any specific temperatures or conditions that have to be carefully monitored when transporting? USE POND WATER WHERE EGGS WERE LAID FOR TRANSPORT. ALMOST ALWAYS PARENTAL WATER WILL THE SAME TEMPERATURE AS RIBBON RECEIVING POND WATER. WATER TEMPS OF BOTH WATER BODIES SHOULD BE WITH 5F. NUMEROUS RIBBONS (8-16) DEPENDING ON LENGTH/SIZE CAN BE PLACED ALL TOGETHER WITH WATER IN A 5 GALLON BUCKET FOR TRANSPORT. AERATION IS GENERALLY NOT NEEDED WHEN TRANSPORT LASTS ONLY A FEW HOURS.

3.) When is the best time to do this as in how many days after the ribbons are laid? I CHECK FOR NEW RIBBONS THAT ARE ON OR NEAR THE TREE BRUSH EACH DAY. MY WATER IN EARLY SPRING IS GENERALLY CLEAR VISIBILITY OF 2.5 TO 4 FT. IN 50-55F WATER THE RIBBONS WILL HAVE GOOD DURABILITY FOR HANDLING FOR 5-7 DAYS AFTER BEING LAID. CLOSE TO EGG HATCHING (1-2 DAYS PRIOR TO HATCH) THE RIBBONS WILL MORE TEND TO BREAK APART WHEN HANDLED. OTHERWISE THE RIBBONS ARE RELATIVELY DURABLE.

BEST EGG HATCHING SUCCESS IS IF RIBBONS ARE HUNG OR DRAPED ON TREE BRANCHES SO THE ENTIRE RIBBON RECEIVES GOOD WATER CIRCULATION AND OXYGENATION.

Hello.

I do it every spring to start my perch.

[video:youtube]https://youtu.be/lKa_iM64ip8?t=1[/video]

But you have to be sure the ribbons are fertile, if they are white they are not fertile.
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Cody Note: some of the ribbons may be only partially fertilized due to not enough males were present during egg laying. Sometimes ribbons can have translucent eggs (fertilized) and opaque white eggs (unfertilized) in the same ribbon.

And when the clear eggs have a tiny black spot in it, is it too late to transfer ribbons then?

IS there a way to gauge success of viable embryos? meaning if you see hundreds of black spots and a few days later no black spots then at least you know micro-fry swam away?

YP eggs even to time of hatching are very durable and they can still be moved, although the egg ribbon may fall apart when you try to pick it up. A fine meshed net would have to be used to collect and move YP egg ribbons that are about to hatch or are hatching.

Estimating the success of the hatch. If you see hundreds or thousands of black spots in the egg ribbon the hatch success would be very good because the eggs developed well and progressed beyond getting fungus.

Hello.

Mr. Cody, is it possible that the water of the house which passes in copper pipes cause the larvae perch to die.

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House Water stored in copper pipes could be stressful to fish eggs but IMO not likely. Fungus growth on the eggs is a more common problem. If house water is doubtful use pond water, tempered spring water or aged well water to incubate the eggs.