Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Advice needed Stunted fish offspring/ misc stuff about my pond

Tecohorn you do have a lot of different size fish and that is good. Looks like you are making good progress on the renovation. Go see ML's ponds and learn a lot in the process. All those mussels are a good indicator of healthy water. What is that crazy hound looking at in your boat?

Meadowlark,
I've read about your tilapia and pond renovation dealing with FA and Muck at Boatcycle.com.(Tilapia…Nature's Insurance Policy)Very interesting read..

Also would love to get some first hand advice about grass carp use in our general area...


I was considering putting in a bunch of GC but you and this site have now changed my mind..
Can't wait to discuss that with you..
Also can't wait to read some back issues of Pond Bass Mag..

This pond was once a tremendous BG fishery and now that I look back at it, it was pure luck....
10-12 inch fish were common.. Some up to 1.5lbs were caught.. Most bass were 2-4 lbs.

My next pond will be about an 1.5 acres after I re-do the dam and that will be a big bass pond.. That is for next spring or summer though.. I want to get this going in the right direction first..

Also will be building a home on my farm in the next two/three years so I'll be a busy beaver..
Just have a small camp house now but I like it better than my home in NW Houston..
I only work 3-4 days a week now so I will have time.. Still a little young to retire at 45 but by 55 I hope I'm ready to move full time back to the country and watch the fish and wildlife grow and frolic...

I want a total of 4 ponds when all is done in the next 5-10 years..

Thanks... It's been pretty tough work but I love it and need the exercise..
The dog is wanting to go for a ride, He loves it. He likes watching and barking at the fish...
He also cleans up any wasted food near the shore!

That is an electric paddle boat but also has pedals if the battery runs down... It's on a solar trickle charger so it stays charged.

I think I'm going to start filling it back up monday or tuesday depending on the weather..
The water temp is really starting to climb but the fish are still doing fine...

Before



After

Started refilling my pond... It's about time....
3 inch pump is listed at 322 GPM or about 20,000 Gallons Per Hour.. I think I will have to run it for 34 straight hours?? That should put me around 600,000 gallons + or - 100,000 gallons I think...

Well I visted Meadowlark and had a great time... Super Guy... He showed me around his place and I was blown away.
We spent about 10-15 minutes catching some of prettiest and healthiest CNBG I've ever seen...
All in the 8 inch range..
We spent an hour or so cruising around his place and talking about our future plans.. He has done an incredible job to say the least and owns a piece of paradise called Meadowlark Ranch...

I got to see some of his pacu (what a pretty fish)and also his redneck tilapia set up and some beautiful cattle.... Everything is fat and happy on his ranch..

Anyway, I released the fish in my pond after about 45 minutes of slowly exchanging the water and it seems to have worked out great... I have not found a dead fish yet and one was eating that same afternoon just 6-7 hours after release.. I was a little worried because it is the hottest time of the year.. Temps around 98-100 right now..

It's been a few day's now and I've seen most of them at the surface feeding so everything has went very well..

I used a 30 gallon tuperware tub with a dual output 30-60 gallon aquarium pump hooked to a small 200 watt power invertor (30 bucks at Walmart) with two cheap air stones weighted down with a washer to keep them on the bottom.
I brought along a frozen one gallon container of my pond water and poured about half of it into the tub for the trip home..
ML added some aquarium salt to my container and everything went smooth..

Here are some pictures.. Not the greatest picture of the fish because I didn't want to handle them again or hurt thier chances of survival in anyway but believe me they were studs..

Again thank's ML...

Bump -- Thanks ML for helping out Tecohorn and spreading those CNBG genes.

Teco how are the transplants doing today ?

Doing great so far... It's been almost 7 days.. It looks like all have lived...One is actually guarding a nest site as of late saturday afternoon.
I Have my fingers crossed.. I'm not sure what type of time frame is normal for adult fish die-off after introduction into a new pond..??
We are having a very hot period right now... Day after day of 98-100 degree temps...