Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Creek Fish - Winter Kill

I guess I didnt have to go quite so over the top with my (parenthesis) notation. Your a big boy though, suck it up and dish something back out if needed to help you feel better.

So bitter. Why?

Your blatant efforts to avoid my Arm Wrestling and Bench Pressing Competition at PB III were duly noted.

Sunil,
Not bitter just geniously owning you mentally online. I will stick to my strong suits of online mental abuse and let Justin take care of you physically during the upcoming arm wrestling match in April. Grimes thinks that justin is the brains of the operation, but really he is the braun. I will blatantly avoid your competition again this year as well at the conference. I am a lover not a fighter.

No more soup for you.

Sunil seems surprisingly sober and introspective today. Isn't Rainman there yet?

Bing

If that's the case, we'll be working on his "disposition" just hours from now!

I'm 'working' now at the Knights Inn. It's amazing what $45.00 per night doesn't get you these days.

Thank your lucky stars you are not spending the night at the Villa Del Abbey in Salinas, Puerto Rico... and it was much more than 45/nt 23 years ago.

I actually tried to sleep in a plastic desk chair because it was the only thing not STICKY!!! never took my shoes off, and, NO WAY was I going to use the "facilities". It was sickening gross, and I tried to leave. They lock the gates at 10 pm, and I was stuck till morning.

Yikes. At that price, did they provide you a hazmat suit or did you bring your own?

I would have freaked out, no doubt. I worked in hotel management for 7 years and it turned me into a bit of a germaphobe. Ignorance is most definitely bliss when it comes to staying in hotels.

Well thanks from the advice, and I have put about 5 of them in my pond so far, will probably wait until next spring or fall to add more, just to see if they happen to spawn.

But since I addes some F1 LMB last December, if any of them survived they should spawn next spring as well so I may have either one or a hybrid of River\F1 LMB.

I have considered getting a few Northern LMB as well just for a mix.

Any thoughts on that?

What about darters, could or should they be moved to a pond?

I'm having a tough time really understanding what you are looking for here, I think. The fish in the creek survived on their own prior to you taking ownership of the land, so there is obviously no need to move the fish to your pond for any reason other than just wanting to do so. If you are cool with the idea that there's a chance they could carry parasites or other unwanted stuff into your pond and maybe impact your purchased fish, then go for it. If you aren't comfortable with that chance, then I say don't go for it. The reality is that if you want to add the fish just for fun, then you need to do it and watch how the experiment pans out for you. It might actually be a fun way to add to your pond's diversity and could lead to some fun time with your kids. If you are asking whether you should do so to ensure the fish survive the winter, my feeling is that it's an unequivocal no. Again, they survived just fine before you owned the place and will survive just fine if you never do anything to them.

Hi,
Today I went to a small creek and caught 4 fish. The creek is very small. I caught like a 3 inch long fish and 3 1 inch fish.Can I keep them in my community tank

The main question I had was about the fish making it through the winter or not.

I am sure most would make it but that does not mean they will not leave anyway when the water is up correct.

Nor does that mean new fish will not be trapped as well.

So I guess this just leaves me to decide if I want to fish and keep them then fine if not throw them back.


Now onto the thought of adding some fish from another pond, lake, creek, etc., what are some things to worry about?

I hear people say you can transfer parasites, disease, etc., but have yet to find examples.

Does anyone have, or is there a post on here with a list of items like parasites, diseases, plants, etc. that could be moved and why they are a problem.

I would just like to know some of these, I am aware of the grubs that snails host but have not heard of other issues.

Also is there really a River Bass?

I was always under the impression of the Northern and Florida strains and that was it.

You can easily transfer parasites from one body of water to another. I have done it before. It sucks...

Gflo gave you a pretty pointed illustration of the pain this can cause. I'm not a fish biologist, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (I did a couple of years ago, but that's my most recent experience), so I can't really give you a sense of what parasites/bacteria/etc you might bring in. All I know is that I work hard enough at managing my ponds that I don't want to deal with things that I can at least have some level of control over, and parasites, etc. are one of those things I can at least try to control. From my reading here, some diseases can really decimate your fish population, some in varying degrees of painful severity for the fish. To me, it's just not worth it. Is the chance small? I don't really know, but perhaps. Still, it's not worth it to me to jeopardize my paid-for fish.

As to plants, etc, consider what you could be facing. Think of the issues you're facing right now with your various ponds and the vegetation that you've got and that you've asked questions about since joining the forum. Now ask yourself if you really want to take on yet another challenge that is going to utilize more of your resources that you'd like to dedicate to things like fish, feeders, aeration, getting aquatic plants under control. Is it worth your time and resources to add yet another potential problem to any of your ponds?

Just some stuff to think about. None of the bad things may ever come to pass, but then again, they might. That's the reason for the conservative approach that I take with my ponds.

I have a eurasian water milfoil problem in my pond. I attribute it to moving GSH from a local BOW to the pond.

Now you've got one example of a parasite and one of a plant getting introduced.

Any species of bass living in a river is a river bass...

So how big do river bass get and is there anywhere to find information on them?

They sure seem like some of the healthiest fish I have seen in a while plus fight well.




Do you know what parasite you transfered and can you trace it back to which body of water?

What has it done to your pond?

MRHELLO, this is not the only source of information on fish in general. The internet is an amazing thing. Utilize a search engine such as Google or Yahoo! and type in things you are interested in... You'd be amazed at what you find. For example, using the Yahoo! search engine and typing in "river bass" this web site came up near the top, http://www.ehow.com/bass-river/ Pretty simple... Try it!

Sometimes I think you take things too literally. For example my comment, "any species of bass living in a river is a river bass." Read the comment again, and a second and then a third time. Grasp the full meaning... A river bass is not a unique species of fish. A smallmouth, a largemouth, a rock, a spotted, a hybrid striped bass can all be river bass if they live in a river!

In general, bass living in rivers do not grow as large as their lake living buddies. They have to fight currents their whole life. This takes energy that could otherwise be put into growth. However, in my experience, pound for pound bass living in rivers tend to be better fighters.

I am not sure I can think of a species of parasite that couldn't be transferred by taking wild fish from a river and placing them into your pond. You mix infected fish with those in your pond and well, you're pretty darn sure to infect your pond fish as well. Pretty simple concept...

Well thanks guys for the help, I guess I will have to wait and see what happens.

I have already moved 5 LMB to my pond since I think the small ones I stocked were eaten by GSF.

I just wish I would have tagged them so I could have kept records as to how the change in environment worked for them, plus as many GSF that are in there, they may look like Footballs if I ever catch one.

I hope to get some pictures of the creek so I can post hem on here to show you what I am talking about.

Thanks

Well after the 16 inches of snow we just got and the below temps that are coming I feel the creek may be empty of fish come thaw time (not to mention my pond that I just stocked a year ago).

I guess we will just have to hope for some heavy rain in the spring to allow new ones to swim up into the creek and get trapped.

My father has been working on his place and he said the creek was full of minnows. Not sure what type they are but he said there were 100's if not 1000's in there.

If the rain does not make it too muddy, I may try to get down there and net some up to take a pic and get your advice as to what they are and if they would work in a pond setting or not.

What type of stream is this? Where does it come from and where does it go? Pretty much any fish in a stram has the potential to be migratory, as others have said. The only reason I see to think the fish would disappear would be if this is an extrordinarily small stream that only received fish fish from a flooded source somewhere up stream. I don't have much experience with warmwater streams but it's amazing the conditions that native brook trout can live through and they're one of the most sensitive fish I know of. During the summers some of the streams around here dry up to just a few pools and rocksbut the fish survive, and conditions are equally if not more brutal in winter if it's cold and dry, but they survive. Can it put a dent in populations? Yes, but nature has a way of working things out if people don't get too much in the way. If these fish are a population that's been there a long time, they'll probably make it. One thing you could do if you're super concerned is build some small dams out of rocks and or logs to deepen the holes the fish ore most often found in.