Built a 5 acre pond last summer. Stocked with bluegill, channels and grass carp last Oct.
Was planning on adding LMBass this April or May.
Now I see small snails in pond. Should I try to add some redear now and the bass later,or can I add them together?
Forgot to add, the pond is literally full of minnows, possibly mosquito fish.
Also what will these snails do if no redear are present?
I don't know of any major impact that snails will have on your pond. The snails may carry a parasite that could cause grubs in the fillets of your fish. They're tiny white grubs that get into the fillets of the fish. Although they're not what you want to see when you cut them open, from what i've read they're harmless to humans. I don't believe that these parasites or the snails will ruin the pond. Adding redear to the pond could help with the snail population, but if nothing else it'll add diversity to your pond which is a plus. Hopefully someone else can give a more definitive answer than I, but I just wanted to tell you what little bit I know about snails. Good Luck
The biggest problem with the parasites is unsightliness. Your family will want to eat fish at red Lobster. I would try for 3 to 5 inch shellcrackers (redears).
I noticed the end of last summer my pond here in decatur had alot of those snails in it...I've noticed quite a bit of em this year already and the perch I caught over the weekend had plenty of those parasites on them..Will getting some shellcrackers get rid of the snails for good or just keep them in check? Next to unsightlyness, I dont think I could eat the fish with those darn things in them.. HOw can I get rid of it??? The pond is about 3/4 acre stocked with black crappie/channelcats/perch... I have no idea what kind of perch they are because were transplanted... Look like any other perch you find in a tank in texas!
Yeah, the Shellcrackers will help a lot but will they completely erradicate the snails? Hard to tell. However, they will definately be worth buying.
Monty, what do you mean by "perch"? Do you mean yellow perch or bluegills? Since Pond Boss has an international distribution, I think it is extremely important to use the correct name for various species and not the local terminology.
Norm, I call them perch due to my ignorance in different species I guess... I honestly have never caught or seen (around here) a different looking perch.. They have a fairly yellow underside and have blue streaks on thier faces around the gill area..I dont know what they are exactly other than they are aggresive.. Now, I guess I need to go find some shell crackers, whatever they are, I dont like parasites in my fish!!
Monty, blue streaks around the face and gill area sounds like, to me, green sunfish. They don't provide enough to feed your catfish. Toss them out when you catch them. Also use the search function here to find out about crappie in small ponds. For forage you need bluegills. Check with local feed stores to find out when the fish truck is coming. It should be advertised. Call them to see what they are bringing. Don't let them talk you into Hybrid Bream. You can also contact Bobs Fishing Hole by Eagle Mountain Lake. Bob is at 817-237-7292. He carries bluegill and shellcrackers. Just make sure you do this stuff soon before the water gets too hot to accept new fish.
green sunfish huh! (perch)hehe!!! I havent seen the fish truck coming to town in the paper in a while.. I do throw the sunfish/perch out every chance I get, why wouldnt they make a good forage fish? There's sure plenty of em of all different sizes! I'll give that number a call and see what I can do..Thanks..
Monty,
The basic reason green sunfish aren't desirable in a LMB pond is that the size of their mouth allows them to compete with the bass.
Do these "perch" have a larger mouth than a bluegill?
Dave,
Do green sunfish have a yellow underside? I used to catch sunfish from the local creek as a boy that were yellow on the belly, but they had a bg size mouth.
Monty I think the identification of your "perch" is going to be hard without looking at a picture. Yellow bellies could also mean pumpkinseed. Try going to this link and checking out the various types of "sunfishes", "perches" and try to identify it yourself. Just click
HERE .
Chris
Well, by looking at the pics, I have both b-gill and greenies.. The greenies dont seem to have as much of the blue in them on their side though.. The fish I have have a small mouth big enough for a jig and thats about it.some of the bigger ones are close in size to the mouth on a 8in.crappie. By yellow belly, it seems the ones that are full of eggs are the ones with semiyellow bellies.. They arent as pure yellow as the specimens I seen in the pics.. Reckon I have some good inbreeding going on in my little pond? The cats are growing by leaps and bounds but I need to get some shellcrackers..What are they gonna do to what I have?
Female green sunfish can have quite yellow bellies in certain ponds. Color intensites of fish can vary from pond to pond. color intensity basically depends on the surroundings, water clarity and sometimes reproductive condition.
Monty, The shellcrackers are going to do real obscene things to the snails. They won't bother anything else.
I would bet big bucks that the Arkansas fish truck will be in Decatur some time within the next month. I don't know where but it used to come to the feed store by the old mansion on the east end of town. Don't know if that store is even open any more. You can call Berend Brothers in Bowie. It comes there quite often.
I got ahold of Bobs fishing hole and he told me that goldfish would do the same thing for me.. Anbody have a problenm with that? I'm looking at getting a good number of bluegill and a couple of dozen good size goldfish if that'll get rid of the snails and skeeters.. Thanks guys..
Boy, I don't know anything about goldfish being snail eating predators. But I do know why shellcrackers are called shellcrackers. I don't figure the catfish will let the goldfish live long enough to do much.
If Bob can't supply the shellcrackers, call Marshall Grain in Fort Worth or Berend Brothers Feed store in Bowie. Ask them about fish truck schedules and call the fish dealer to see if they are hauling shellcrackers.
There is one other option that you can try if you have time. Get a fishing buddy that knows what redear look like, and go out and catch you some mature fish and transport them to your pond in aerated live wells. We make ours out of ice chests and hook up battery powered aerators. Just add a little ice to the water to cool down the fish so you can carry 20 - 30 in each ice chest. Lots of fun and I like to go fishing anyway. Just be sure to properly identify the fish. It isn't hard once you have put your hand on one.
I just got my pond stocked with bass. Hatchery guy had 3-5" redear. I put 400 in. Would have put more but 60 cents each prohibited that.
My pond has no runoff so I have been pumping from an irrigation well. I had to run 1200 ft. of underground pipe from well to pond.
I'll be glad when I can quit spending $ and start catching some of these high dollar fish!