Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Yellow Perch ribbons yet?

Since the perch are pellet trained wait until the water is 50F to feed sinking pellets. You might try fishing to catch just one so you know they are still there. Aerator can be started anytime. I don't start my aerator until the water is about 55F-65F. The warmer the water is above 50F the slower the start up run time should be. Example - at 65F-70F, first day 1 hr, second day 2hr, 3rd day 3-4 hr, etc.

Dark green blue hue was very likely from microscopic algae growth -phytoplankton utilizing nutrients leaching from the freshly exposed dirt.

I walked to the pond today I have ribbons! Not sure when it started as I was gone all week. Water clarity is pretty decent. Got a good look, as a couple of ribbons were in recenty submerged grass, while the majority were in slightly deeper water. They have spawned on the dam which lies north and sounth thus catching the brunt of the midday and afternoon sun. Wind has been from the northwest while I was gone, so that would be where the waves were breaking.

Congrats James!

CIGARS!! I'm going to the local tavern now!

I inadvertanly raked in a ribbon of YP eggs today, pass the cigars.

Did you put it back ?

Absolutely the YP ribbon went back in!

I hope I didn't mess up any of the eggs by pulling them in. I had no idea the ribbon was even there when I put the rake in the water. I made that my last rake for the critter quest once I saw the YP eggs come up and I was just getting started. The eggs were in 3ft+ of water and stuck to the vegetation.

The funny thing is I have been walking the pond every day looking for ribbons but had not seen any yet.

I'm really jealous of you . Still waiting on mine!!!

I found two yellow perch laying in the water this morning with that telltale beak strike just behind the head. One of them was in the process of releasing eggs. However in all objective fairness the heron may have struck the fish on the way out. That is, the fish may have been dying from spawning stress (I loose a few female perch every year due to this) and were floundering on the surface near the edge of the pond and the heron instinctively struck.

I have quickly put up a staked parameter around the pond though so he or she won't be able to get into the water or even be able to strike anything along the edge. I'll add pics tomorrow.

I went down today, and I have quite a few strands. I pulled some of the strands into shallower water, and hung them on submerged grass.That way I can monitor the whole process better.Looks like the fertility is high. Lots of pearly white eggs.

Alot easier to spot them now that I know what I'm looking for.

The water haS cooled enough now, that zero fish fed tonight. With these cooler water temps, what is lethal for the developing eggs? Does any one know? I'm sure 32, but are they fairly hardy?

LMAO....I'm nervous as a broody hen.

I wouldn't worry James. Lower water temps will just slow down the time it takes for them to hatch. It's when water temps quickly drop after they hatch and zooplankton have a hard time mutiplying -- due to lack of algae bloom issues-- when you have problems. By the time they hatch you're far enough south I doubt you'll have any issues.

Could a person pull the ribbons and place them into a large tank and hatch them out? Some blue die and feed them brine shrimp?

To much work?

Cheers Don.

Nope. They need very very small live feed until they can even fit brine shrimp in their mouths. If you want to go to the trouble of an algae culture feeding and producing zooplankton etc. etc. it can be done but not worth the trouble when you can get Mother nature to do it for you unless you are a commercial producer.

There are so many eggs from even one perch I wouldn't worry about survival if that is your concern.

For more details about how water temperature affects hatching time of yellow perch eggs see Pond Boss Magazine Mar-Apr 2010 for the article:
"TEMPERATURE AFFECTS ON YELLOW PERCH HATCHING" by Justin VanDeHey, Andy Jansen, and Dr. Dave Willis who describe yelow perch eggs, the spawn, dynamics of weather, and perch abundance. They provide some details of how water temperature affects egg hatch and fry survival.

Thanks Bill, I have that one.just dug it out. I dont think I ever read this issue

i thought about giving egg ribbons a try in my basement, but not until things have calmed down at my job and i'm back to somewhat normal work hours.. i've had greenwater cultures, and dapnia/rotifer cultures i've used to feeed a few minnow hatches, but i know for yp i'd have to go a bit bigger..
the temperature in my basement pond has gone up from the high 40's - when i lost a few tilapia - to the mid 60's... had yp eggs partially clogging up my drain lines the last couple nights/mornings, and 1 yp mort, a bloated female that didn't/couldn't release her eggs.. had one last year as well..
i put quite a few of the eggs in the crayfish tanks, i'm sure they'll eat them up... and the crayfish will end up in the pool anyways, so another "free" food input for the system (until i set something up to do it right, or at least try)

I see that every year as well. With about 350 large females in the big pond I get as many as a dozen or so every year that croak on me. Some years less. No emphirical evidence but I suspect a good many reabsorb their eggs too -- maybe because of the lack of males? I say this because I see a lot less eggs than I should. But who knows how many end up on the bottom out of sight?

All is not lost though. I will make a nice stringer mount one of these days. I freeze them up for later use.

When I went to collage I worked for my uncle. He would raise Angel fish for the home aquarium. We would ship 1500 about the size of a quarter each week. These fish were of the cichlid family. We would hatch their eggs out and feed them brine shrimp as their first feed. I would expect that their mouths would be much much smaller than perch fry.

Well aired water with a touch of blue die to keep the fry shaded. They would eat the brine shrimp till they could take in flake then pellet feed.

Thoughts?

Cheers Don.

Don,

For some reason it's not that easy for yellowvperch. Do a search for the Yellow Perch Culture manual.

I have no doubt they can be fed brine shrimp but not right away according to the texts.

Perch ribbon update.

Weather and temps here has been on a wild roller coaster ride.4/13 I saw my first perch ribbons. I continued seeing new ribbons for the next 3-4 days. Then the temperatures went south., Today I saw new ribbons. Some appeared to have been there 2-3 days, some look freshly laid. Water temp at the surface this afternoon was 58*F. That was with an air temp of 74 and a good SW breeze.

I read somewhere about the possibility of 2 spawning events. (I hope it wasnt in this thread, as I looked twice)

Yellow Perch are truly an interesting beast.

I moved about 100 mostly females from a holding pond back to the original pond today which had drained and is now refilled. Most had dropped their eggs but a few still had eggs in them.

About 200 more to go!

A few males caught today still were full of milt.

Good to know as that makes sexing of the fish easier. I had some questionable ones I did not restock but they did not produce milt either.

These didn't have fat bellies, but just handling them to remove the hook caused them to leak. They were 10"-11" long.

I have a decent way to sex them even without eggs or milt I'll have to show you. Found it in a recent publication.