Some structure I threw together quickly out of scraps for my FHM's in the new mini .065 acre forage pond.
Figured the FHM needed a place to have a little fun so built some condo's for them out of some scrap hose I found in the dumpster that had been discarded. The hose, along with sides of an old crate pallet layered about an inch or two apart, screwed to an old pallet did the trick.
Now if only the FHM's will do their trick, maybe I will have some additional forage to add to big pond once their cousins get wiped out by the LMB. "The Plan" is, once the FHM's are mostly gone in the big pond and this forage pond is thriving with them, to throw in a minnow trap about daily and transfer a few dozen over to the big pond. The idea being, feed the FHM's and let the FHM's feed the LMB, as opposed to directly feeding the LMB pellets. We will see how "The Plan" works out.
I will be curious to see how that works out. In a forage only pond should work. I wish we had one to try out like this. I wanted a forage pond to put GSF and Gold Fish in along with some FHM and GSH. I figure let nature do its thing and see what happens. Maybe someday.
I never was able to do my Drum experiment either but one day hope to do so. I may just add 1-5 of them to a pond and see if they will take to feed.
Hose came out of my dumpster (employees don't have the same appreciation for fish habitat as I do). Pallet stuff has been laying around for a few years from shipments we have gotten. Screws came from Home Depot (25# economy box I had half left from a previous building project).
I did a bunch of this in my main pond also before it filled. Made a bunch of huts made from various boards and pallets we has laying around (this was before I discovered PBF so did not get a lot of pictures to share). Spaced the boards about an inch to two inches apart, some as tall as about 3 feet with ten or fifteen layers of boards. Also used a bunch of various tubing had laying around. Black plastic pipe, pvc pipe, grey plastic electrical conduit, etc.
Don't know if they did the trick or not, but we sure do have the FHM's.
I have linked to this video before, but this is where I got my original inspiration.
The FHM will use any solid underside they can find. Rocks, logs, red Solo cups, pallets, pipes, etc. Any open underside will work, but something that can give them cover from larger fish gives them a chance to spawn without being eaten.
Just discovered this video while looking for the one I linked to above. Interesting tidbits about the unloved FHM. This is in an aquarium setting but the information is about the fish.
I may get some Rosy-Reds to put in the forage pond just for the novelty. The color ought to make them easy targets for the LMB and larger BG when their offspring get transferred to the main pond.
How big do these guys get? I seen some doing the spawn dance in our pond today that were all of 3"s maybe more.
Cheers Don.
Those are average adult size, Don. FHM are usually wiped out by the LMB and added as a jump start for juvenile LMB in original stocking as easy forage till their primary prey fish, most often a BG can reproduce enough times
I noticed your careful calculations visually appear a little less than a 32nd inch off....I sure hope your FHM are forgiving!
Next time you are down this way, stop by and I will let you personally "adjust" them. I've got a charged up drill battery with your name on it and will pull the pallets out of the water for you.
I think the FHM will be more tolerant of my tolerances than you Rainman!
How big do these guys get? I seen some doing the spawn dance in our pond today that were all of 3"s maybe more.
Cheers Don.
Bout 3" is about right. One thing to keep in mind if you raise or stock any is the female tends to be a little smaller than the male. So if you pick out or buy only the largest minnows, you might be selectively choosing males. For breeding purposes, make sure there is a mix of larger and not so large individuals.
I trapped some just yesterday, and the biggest males were all in their breeding regalia with lots of body shade variation.
I have noticed, especially at night, around the shore line in half inch water to a few inches the juveniles like to stay. I rarely see an adult FHM up in really shallow water unless there is feed and they come to the feed. But the juvies will be in shallow water day and night. That is how you will know you had a spawn. Start seeing lots of tiny half inch fish around the shore line. First year I mashed up sinking fish food and put around part of the shore line for them. Later I found all I had to do was put some pellets in the shallow water. The baby FHM's will peck at it lightly, then eat more as the pellet softens, then usually by then their adult brethren have found the pellets and there is a feeding frenzy going on.
It is going to be interesting to me to see how this behavior changes as my fingerling LMB get going and wipe them out. I am curious, with all the habitat for breeding and refuge I have provided specifically for FHM, how long I can make them last before they are all gone. Once they are mostly gone, hopefully the forage pond will be going strong and can supplement any population left in the big pond.
Someone will likely ask "why all the trouble for FHM's?" (They already have ask that). Dunno. What is a hobby for??? I just took a shine to them I guess. Also, seems like feeding FHM to the LMB ought to be at least as good if not better than feeding LMB targeted pellets. So I will feed the feed to the FHM's, and feed the FHM's to the LMB. At least that is the plan. Sometimes plans change.
How big do these guys get? I seen some doing the spawn dance in our pond today that were all of 3"s maybe more.
Cheers Don.
Those are average adult size, Don. FHM are usually wiped out by the LMB and added as a jump start for juvenile LMB in original stocking as easy forage till their primary prey fish, most often a BG can reproduce enough times
I have stocked these FHM for my perch pond. Only predator fish in our pond is perch. The rest is FHM, and shiners. The FHM really like to propagate and will take the smaller feed we are feeding to the perch.
I really like the idea of a FHM only forage pond. Maybe I can find a neighbors pond I could use too.
One question that has been bugging me and I hope maybe Bills Perch special in Pond Boss will shed some light on how many naturally born perch will take to the pellets being fed to their parents.
How big do these guys get? I seen some doing the spawn dance in our pond today that were all of 3"s maybe more.
Cheers Don.
Bout 3" is about right. One thing to keep in mind if you raise or stock any is the female tends to be a little smaller than the male. So if you pick out or buy only the largest minnows, you might be selectively choosing males. For breeding purposes, make sure there is a mix of larger and not so large individuals.
I trapped some just yesterday, and the biggest males were all in their breeding regalia with lots of body shade variation.
I have noticed, especially at night, around the shore line in half inch water to a few inches the juveniles like to stay. I rarely see an adult FHM up in really shallow water unless there is feed and they come to the feed. But the juvies will be in shallow water day and night. That is how you will know you had a spawn. Start seeing lots of tiny half inch fish around the shore line. First year I mashed up sinking fish food and put around part of the shore line for them. Later I found all I had to do was put some pellets in the shallow water. The baby FHM's will peck at it lightly, then eat more as the pellet softens, then usually by then their adult brethren have found the pellets and there is a feeding frenzy going on.
It is going to be interesting to me to see how this behavior changes as my fingerling LMB get going and wipe them out. I am curious, with all the habitat for breeding and refuge I have provided specifically for FHM, how long I can make them last before they are all gone. Once they are mostly gone, hopefully the forage pond will be going strong and can supplement any population left in the big pond.
Someone will likely ask "why all the trouble for FHM's?" (They already have ask that). Dunno. What is a hobby for??? I just took a shine to them I guess. Also, seems like feeding FHM to the LMB ought to be at least as good if not better than feeding LMB targeted pellets. So I will feed the feed to the FHM's, and feed the FHM's to the LMB. At least that is the plan. Sometimes plans change.
Hey Snrub,
Got an update on this project? How did it go this summer? I was considering doing the same thing next year but just use a couple of livestock water tanks as the brood "ponds."
Update on the project is that the FHM's did their thing and reproduced. Took about a half of a five gallon bucket worth of 1.5" FHM's (young ones) total out of the mini forage pond over the summer and put them in other ponds. Production should be a lot better next year.
This is a link to the forage pond that kind of goes along with this thread.
Also have put similar structure in my sediment pond. That thread is located here. It was built later in the year, but still had small FHM fry swimming around earlier this fall so it is working also.
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