Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Growing gambusa stock

Gambusia or mosquitofish can purchased on-line from a couple of dealers. You can also sometime find them mixed in with feeder fish at pet stores. However, gambusia are not native to OK. I would not introduce them to OK and it is probably illegal anyways. There are native fish that would be better suited anyways.

We must be talking about two different tanks. The ones I have seen at TSC have two vertical protrusions (bumps) on the inside that are larger at the bottom and taper up. Plus they only have a drain, no inlet. Having had a number of recycle systems in the past, I felt that the ones I had observed would not be suitable for my goals. However, I might use one for a holding tank. I have some new systems in the works and should have them later this summer. I'll post a picture then.

They are illegal in MI also. I wanted to get some for my moms small pond for mosquito control, but found they are on the no-no list. About the only thing available in our area are FHM so I'll give that a try.

They naturally appeared in my pond.

Mosquitofish have a way of doing that...

I think we cought one out of a stream today as well. So not sure how they got there either.

Plus why are they illegal in OK?

I am not saying they are illegal in OK. I don't know. You need to check though. Mosquitofish/Gambusia are nasty little buggers that harass, pick, snip and bite at anything they can get their mouths on. They often out compete native fish. There are two species of mosquitofish. An eastern and a western species.

Would Gams eat away at yellow perch egg ribbons?? I assume we can't have them here in PA either CJ, since the commonwealth doesn't want RES to be stocked here either. I'm still looking for a source for them.

My first memories of gambusia are from the small fishing pond on the Hollidaysburg Sportsman Club in PA near Altoona. My grandfather used to take me fishing there all the time. They had a small but self sustaining population of gambusia in the pond. Farthest north population I have seen that wasn't along the coast. I am not sure if they'd survive much farther north. I don't know if they are legal in PA or not. If you want some, I can catch you a few and mail them to you for use in your aquarium... I'd look at some banded killifish over the gambusia. They should handle the cold better and do pretty well under predation. They just aren't livebearers like gambusia are.

Just from a quick read it appears they down't spawn as prolifically either. I am having good luck at present maintaining forage with FHM for my perch but it's possible down the road I will be searching for options.

Does anybody know where I can get gamx in iowa

Ovation, where do you live in Iowa? Im from the Fort Dodge area. I think CJBS2003 is right about the northern latitudes. They may natively live in southern Iowa, up to about Red Rock Reservoir. Here is a website I found that had the native distribution of gambusia. I don't think anyone grows them in Iowa, but I could be wrong.

http://maps.gis.iastate.edu/iris/fishatlas/maps/165878.jpg

I live in charles city about 2 hours from you just was wondering about stocking them in my 2.5 acre pond. I just want to add more forage/bait to the pond.

I think that is them. Those are reenforcements for the flats, which makes them take up way less space, as they can be pushed up against a straight line wall. Also they stack, great for storage and shipping, so if I order three instead of one, $60 shipping is ony $20 per.

Right now I have most of mine set up for triple tanks. No recirc at all. Lilies/fish/polliwogs. I have one standby for fish farm gimmes. That one I just put a Weston recirc 110V on top for temp holding. I made a cover system for shade and jumpers. The drain works for end of season washdown, with hp washput, then drain. I even recycle whatever is on bottom for new lily planting. The fish may be goldfish, gambusia or fhm. Even a couple of free one eyed koi. Pirate koi free from Petsmart. I have a pallet under mini lilies, a real hot item. That is for the fhm to hang out and breed.

The drain is actually used as an inlet by koi guys. They center drill the bottom and install shower type drains and put them on cinder blocks. A lot of guys overwinter thier koi in them indoors, or in a barn or garage and heat the tanks. The flats will create minor dead spots at the bottom I suppose. But fish tend to roll into those once in a while to get a break from moving water. If you have a venturi type of drain center not much gets stuck on them. I am going for 3 more soon. First I need one each for hardy lilies, color coded. Red, White, Yellow, Pink and Peach. I need one for tropicals, one for minis. I need one open for fish farm gimmes. So I can probably get away with a double tank or maybe a triple tank system. They do manufacturer float valves for them also.

Right now I have gambusia in every full tank. I wish I had not accidentally put some in my fhm tank, I'll fix that on a drain maintenance. Usually I make a safe zone out of parrotfeather or hyacinth for the fry. But I might just make a growout tank for them. Everyday I can I drop some Sturgeon pellets in there, and they just nip at them constantly until they are gone. I like to watch them occupy thier zone. Without predation they take over and dominate. They do bully fish 10X thier size. And they will wipe out fragile native species. Because they are not fragile. I never put them in places where they might do that. At least I hope I don't.

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwusnative

check here for cheap Gambusia minnows.

There are numerous for free sources where I am at. Besides any pond of body of water that has them, you have to check local regulations about transporting them. We have vector control for mosquitos. They used to just give them to you if you lived in the same county and had a need. Some places got abused, especially during West nile scare. But mostly they just give you some and you put them in. Does not take many, I am on my third and fourth broods in many of my tanks already. I have hatches daily. You just need a safe zone for the fry. I am also hand dip netting a few dozen per day and moving them into fry tanks or empty tanks where they can all grow together. You do not need to buy your starting stock, and you do not need to start with many. I have a customer that bought 6,000 of them. I asked him why? he said he wanted as many as possible. I told him they would have gotton to the max population point starting with 100 or so pretty quick. As long as they have cover. And in his pond his entire shoreline has cover. Gambusia tend to max out pretty quick. I have to feed mine. Best thing to watch is letting some stagnant water fill up with mosquito larva. Dump that in and watch them frenzy. Big females will eat dozens in minutes. Little fry will attack larva thier own size. Then I can take those Gambusia to a LMB pond and release them on the shore and they get frenzied on by LMB fry. Just a perfect fish for low end food chain.

I was thinking about stocking some of these, and wanted to know how well they do over winter?


I may just try to grow some in an aquarium I think the kids might like to see them have babies.

Thanks

I know they survive under ice. I planted 50 ro so in one of my customers ponds today for free. Just a follow up gimme. Things are prolific breeders, fun aquarium fish, but not good with other fish. They are bullies in small environments. Just too aggressive. Especially the big females. And they will eat thier own young if nothing else is around. I'm having better success sperating them at birth and providing cover for them in my 8 tanks. Once I put them in a pond, they are in long term. But I'm making inroads on FHM as well. Next is to get shiners reproducing in good numbers.

A lot of it may depend on where the parental fish are originally from. Although mosquitofish or Gambusia don't have listed subspecies, they are wide ranging in their native range, from the tip of southern FL up the Atlantic coast to coastal NJ. Obviously, if you are looking for cold hardy ones, you'd want to source your fish from nortern parents, not ones from FL. I have seen them winter just fine in a pond in central PA and have many winter in northern VA where temps get below 0 and 12" of ice is possible...

That's a great point, that I always try to emphasize. I stick with local fish because they are normally acclimatized. There are two species of gambusia if I remember correctly. Eastern and Western. I don't think there is a lot of difference between them. You never know but it migh take several generations and numerous morts just to get a strain from warm water to acclimate to freezing waters. Why bother on a common fish practically everywhere. I had a hard wineter for my parts this season. Lows to 24F. 1/2 inch ice in tanks. My stock had never seen that before and they did fine. But complete coverage of tank with azolla/duckweed mixed wiped an entire tank out. They can survive no aeration, incredible heat, but they need that surface water open.

Yes, you're correct there are two species of Gambusia. If ichthyologists studied them more, I would bet they would divide each species into a couple of subspecies as well.

So what are the drawbacks to adding these to your ponds?

Once their in, their in. If they escape to native fisheries, they can be very destructive. They don't make friends easily. They don't play baseball. They don't wear sweaters. They're not good dancers. They don't play drums.

I see you like to be funny. Can you go into more depth on destructive please?

I really would like to put some of these in but if they cause more harm than good I will stay away.

Also can you tell me a little more about raising them in an aquarium?

Thanks

They are nasty little buggers that will harass out compete other forage species. Now if your pond has no other forage species then it may not be that big an issue. Personally I think there are better options out for for a forage fish. But, in some cases Gambusia may be the only option. It seems no matter how over populated a pond is with bass, they can always maintain a small population at least. If they are not native to your area, they can escape and out compete native species.