Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Cecil envy

I want to reserve my spot now.

"Hurry, hurry! Step right up! See the Amazing Condello Brothers and Sister Rose Circus!

See the Terrifying Cannibal King Perch - Able to eat small siblings in a single gulp!
See Dr. Frankenbruce's Giant False-Toothed Bluegill! Watch him gain weight before your very eyes!
See the Astounding Reciprocating Algal Bloom and observe it wax and wane on a precise ten minute cycle!

Come one, come all! Free 42% protein fish food for the Kiddies! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Theo, like Barney said of Ernest T " You're a nut"

Update, 1400 hours, Wednesday, November 16...

Outdoor temperature has plummeted and so has the temperature inside my Morton building. Temperature outside was 22 degrees F. Temperature in the Morton building was 40 degrees F.
Temperature inside the "Perch Hood" was 50 degrees F.
Temperature of the water was 52 degrees F.
Still no mortalities. The water wasn't algaefied yet, but I still drained off all of the water and replaced with new. There were no pellets in the water so I had to assume that perch are feeding, however when I threw some pellets in the perch largely ignored them, perhaps because they didn't want to come to the surface with my ugly mug in the background. I broke up 20 nightcrawlers into about 60 pieces which the perch gobbled up without hesitation, and the bigger perch almost always seemed to get the snack. An interesting observation was that when a night crawler is thrown in as a small piece, the perch will grab it about four inches below the surface, but when an entire nightcrawler is thrown in the yellow perch scatter to the corner until it hits the bottom, then they get up the nerve to come up and start pecking.

The perch are clearly diverging in size, just like the HSB that I raise, with the biggest ones running about 5.5 inches (and one crazy 7 incher). My partner wanted some perch for his pond so I took out the 41 smallest ones and brought them in to town.

P.S. If this commentary is a little mundane let me know. Maybe it can be used as a sleep aid.

Keep up the commentary, Bruce. I read it last thing at night and sleep like a baby. :p

Seriously, please continue. I am interested in how both the YP AND the hardware do.

50 deg inside the perch tent sounds good. You're running a trickle of water while away as planned, with no "hard water" problems outside the tent?

Brucie wrote: "P.S. If this commentary is a little mundane let me know. Maybe it can be used as a sleep aid."

It's so funny that you mentioned that. Last night, my daughter couldn't fall asleep. I thought to myself what better time than now to learn about Yellow Perch? So I started reading this thread to her. Sure enough, her eyes started to glaze over, then she burped and fell asleep.

Thanks Bruce!

Theo, the water runs into and out of the tank within the tent structure, so no hard water evident. I'm still just a little nervous about the really cold weather to come. I guess if I lose 'em, I lose 'em. I still haven't used any heater, so I've got the option of turning that on at some point. I don't consider it a fire hazard, but just the same I'd rater not run a heating element until absolutely necessary.

Bruce -- one thought, although you probably already know this. When you cull out the smaller ones, don't assume that they necessarily are non-feeders. Often, it's a dominance thing, as you already mentioned. When the 100 small ones are put in a tank by themselves, they often will all feed. Of course, they'll develop a new dominance hierarchy as well. :-) Pardon me if this is "old" info.

Dave, what you've stated is very, very true of HSB, and I'm sure that ultimately I'll see the same phenomenon in this YP project. I briefly mentioned to my wife that I'd like to grow out some of the smaller ones in my house.

Can you say "Icy Stare".... :rolleyes:

Well, I thought you probably knew, but posted just in case. We saw the same thing when feed training largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, back in the day when I still did some fish culture work.

Icy stare, eh? Hmm, can't say as my wife has done that, although I only have one cichlid aquarium and one setter in the house. Oh wait...maybe I did see just a tad bit of ice when I recently happened to mention in an off-the-cuff manner that it was about time to start thinking about a second setter as the first is already 6. :-)

That's so funny.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. Anyone else out there start a project on your pond and get that "Are you for real?" look?

I just got back from the pond in Miss. for 5 days. Started out 82 and humid, ended up 32 and windy. My wife now sees me on the computer and asks, "Are you fishing again"? I've got to get my comp. running again, so I can have some privacy!

[QUOTE]My partner wanted some perch for his pond so I took out the 41 smallest ones and brought them in to town."

With partners like that, who needs enemies.

The closest I come to getting that icy stare is when I am single-mindedly working a project to the exclusion of everything else, knowing that I can get it finished just the way I want in only 25% more time than I have available. In those circumstances my wife will, out of the blue, complain that I am being obsessive.

Dames!?!

Yesterday I took 6 more YP out of the tank to give to my partner. I traded him for a 1 litre Diet Mountain Dew. I took the tiniest ones I could find, but it's getting evident that all fish are growing at least a little. One YP was trapped under the inlet and perished.

If my count is correct I should now have 290 YP left in the tank. All remaining fish look to be in great shape. The best part is watching them feed on night crawlers, but now the pellet feeding is getting pretty regular.

Bruce:

What range of lengths are they up to now?

Generally 4-6.5 inches, with a couple of piggies that I haven't measured lately but look at least an inch bigger than the others.

The best part is that the overall body condition seems to be on the upswing. It's pretty encouraging!

Bruce :

As I have not yet killed a million fish I am not an aquaculturist so these questions may not be applicable.

First at what # x weight will there be to much bio-mass in the Walmart- special chinese aquarium to keep them safely ( a risk level a million killer(like Dr. Frankenbruce) is ok with)? Second should such a Dr. with access to gas , drugs and the like consider adding some antibiotic , salt, slime coat protectant or other aquaculturist concoction to protect his investment? :p ewest

Sophisticated RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems) will advertise as high as one pound of growout for every five gallons of water. I've always thought this was pretty ambitious for a recirc system, but might actually be doable for a open ended system like this. I have the huge advantage of not really caring how many pounds I grow out because I don't have to sell fish for a living, so I'm really just doing it to grow out a certain number of fish for my own personal stocking that meet the criteria of fast growth, agression and feed utilization. I believe if I select for these traits it will greatly benefit my recreational ponds, not to mention the fact that fish stocked will be less subject to predation.

I wish I knew enough about fish antibiotics or growth supplements to be able to boost the health of these YP. Is there anyone who knows a little about animal supplements (growth hormone, even ).

Nope!

Bruce :

I think CB1 is trying to keep an advantage on you. He knows a lot and is not talking.

Try this link for supply ideas.

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.subsections/sid/21

This for fish drugs

http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/270

Just having a little fun. I don't know any secrets. Honest.

Me too.

Feeding time in the perch bucket!



...and a little variance in size. Diet Dew trade fodder vs. future Cecilesque trophy!

Today, December 3, I visited the Po'boy RAS tank. The fish looked great. I broke up 16 nightcrawlers and enjoyed the battles that took place over every scrap. I tried hard to count and I thought I saw seven different perch that were way bigger than the others, and probably 40 more that were the next level down. There were very, very few fish now that looked malnourished. I filled another tank with water and took 62 YP's out to give to NEDOC. He provided me with some really good looking male bluegill earlier this year, and he is picking up my new feed, so I removed these fish for his use. I strongly suspect that these fish are practically all females now. All of the fish I removed were in good body condition, although they apparently weren't as dominant as some that remained.

I now have 228 yellow perch remaining in the tank. I emtied and cleaned the tank with a nice windshield squeegie from Wal-mart. You know, that kind with a sponge/abrasive net on one side and the flat, flexible rubber on the other. This made quick work of the cleanup job.

Bruce :

Did I detect a second walmart special chinese RAS or just a spare tank in waiting. Good to hear the YP are doing well. When I used to clean my BG aquarium (with out draining)I was concerned with cleaning the sides and leaving or letting the side growth stay in the aquarium even though it was filtered. I used a cheap siphon when I cleaned the sides to get most as I scraped it off. I did that by starting the siphon and holding it in one hand while I scraped right above the intake. It worked fairly well. I don't have any idea if that was necessary. ewest