Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose YP Reproduction pond guidance

I have a several branch piles and spruce trees in the pond, but did not see any small YP last year (or egg strands).

Sorry for all the questions, but I am trying to raise YP for the first time as well and hoping we can learn from each other's experiences.

1) You said yer stockers were 8 to 9 inch. Are you sure you have a good mix of female and male?

2) I have my pond heavy with FHM right now in hopes that if the YP do spawn, they will continue to use the FHM as forage instead of their own spawn. What are you using as YP forage?

I do not know the sex of the YP and that does worry me. I am hoping that at least one male and female survived. The fish were very expensive which seems like a mistake now since I did not get an apparent spawn in 2014. I am hoping that the YP will feed on FHM, and was also hoping to see some young GSH, but all I see are FHM. Maybe the other species just need more time to build?

Not an expert and hopefully one will chime in. I would try to catch a few now. I would think the females will be full of eggs. In a couple of months, not sure how you can tell male from female if the females have never spawned.

Even without males, shouldn't I see egg ribbons?

I guess I always thought you needed males to induce females to spawn, but I dun know for sure. Hopefully, TJ, Bill C. or another YP expert will see these posts and shed some light for us.

Some of the gravid females will drop their eggs if no males are present. A significant percentage of females without males may not lay the eggs and then reabsorb them. In mid-Indiana one should begin seeing eggs mid-March and for the next 2 maybe 3 weeks. In northern OH during years with a warm spring I will see my first eggs the last week of March. Watch your water temperatures and look for eggs when the surface water 12"-24" deep is 48F to 50F. All YP egg laying is usually finished when the water is consistently 60F. When I hear pond toads trilling my YP spawn has usually ended.

If your brush structure is deep below the water transparency depth it is likely you won't see egg ribbons. I always place my brush /tree tops in shallow water 4"-24" deep along the shoreline so any eggs on or near the tree twigs are visible in calm water. YP ribbons look like toilet paper in the water; strung out or clumped.

Thanks Bill.

Based on Rah's scenario, he stocked 25 YP 8 to 9 in 2013 and saw no sign of spawn or small YP in 2014, how would you proceed?

How to proceed will depend on your goals. If my only goal is to have a YP spawn in mid Indiana, then I would add more YP now (asap) that were mature fish, mixed sex, and soon to spawn in the next 1-3 weeks. Or he could buy some YP eggs. I discard YP eggs each spring as a form of population control. It also depends on how much one wants YP in the pond. RAH has been in the past hesitant to travel several hours to get fish. All this fish growing stuff depends on how much one wants results. Sometimes it takes good preplanning, sacrifice, and/or money to get your desired results.

If again there is no YP spawn in 2015 then he has to wait another year to see if a spawn occurs. Although there is still the option of buying fingerlings this spring or this fall which could have been done in fall 2014, to insure presence of male YP for the spawn of 2015. One year old male YP are fertile.

Adding fingerlings during a poor spawn year improves or bolsters the year class strength of that species. When one stocks fingerling YP they are thin bodied fish and are easy prey for some small predators. Thus it is important to consider what predators are present, their density, and what other available forage foods are present before supplemental stocking of any fingerlings.

Sorry guys late to this...what is/are the specific questions? I'm sure Cody already hammered them, if not, restate please I'll do my best. Seems like every response poses new questions...so, what are they - like, point by point?

TJ,

It started like this

"Based on Rah's scenario, he stocked 25 YP 8 to 9 in 2013 and saw no sign of spawn or small YP in 2014, how would you proceed?"

Biil C. provided an input.

Second question

"Will female YP produce egg ribbons even if there are no males in the pond?"

Bill C. provided an input.


As always, more thoughts are always appreciated!!

First egg ribbons seen today. There are several on just one of the older brush piles that has a lot of algae growing around and on the branches. They are not large ribbons and are very white. Will they change color over time if fertile? If so, how long does this take?

Most of the time if you can see the eggs well a small black dot will appear if fertilized. If not they will stay white.

I stocked 400 from 4-8" in our 1 acre pond and only seen ribbons the first year stocked. Last year we didn't see any. Last year we didn't see or catch any young perch in the minnow trap. I do wonder if the ice is late (like this year again here) for the day light hours if the perch will just not spawn.

Our perch did something odd last year too and went off the feed in June. I am hoping it was from the massive abundant common shiners and FHM. We back the feed off and feed the minnows all summer. Perch didn't go back on the feed in the fall like they were not even there.

With a hook and a minnow they would just smash it. Had some that were 12"s.

Cheers Don.

YP eggs will appear cream or whitish as they are in the water. To tell if they are fertilized pull a small piece off the ribbon or look at the ribbon closely. If the centers are amber or clear-yellow colored they are fertile if the centers are white they were not fertilized. You may see amber and white egg centers in the same strand indicating partial fertilization of the strand and due to too few males. As the eggs develop after 5-7 days the centers will appear dark due development of the eyes on the embryo.

Thank you Bill! I'll report back.

RaH. Are you tempted to cage the single strand to keep predators away?? Birds, turtles?

Also curious how the spruce hold up? The spruce I have seen in water next to long pines seem to hold up better. What do you notice?

I have not thought about caging the eggs (several strands on one brush pile). Is egg predation typically a big problem? I really do not know whether spruce hold up better than pine, but my guess is that they do. I have a surplus of both, but mostly spruce. The trees are from thinning trees we started planting 25 years ago. I am adding these to the new pond until the plants get going full bore. I have plenty of reeds and water lilies in my older pond.

Supposedly YP eggs have an off flavor to deter consumption of the eggs. The only thing that I've noticed around or bothering YP eggs are bullfrog tadpoles. I'm not sure if the tadpoles are eating the eggs.

You are a wealth of knowledge! I always love getting advice supporting me not having another chore to do:)

Thanks. Good to know

Also ducks and geese do not seem to eat the eggs. When YP eggs are laid (43F-54F) it usually too cold for turtles to be active. I saw eggs Mar 30 in water temperature of 43F.

Well I've learned a lot from this thread. Looks like I've, more than likely, missed the spawn for this year. I'll just have to hope they get it done next year.
I won't receive fish for a few weeks.
I'm looking at stocking:
1000, 2-4" YP, 300, 4-7" YP, and 20# adult YP into a acre and a half new pond that's about 12' deep with 8' average depth.
I'll put in SMB this fall (hopefully) I put in FHM last summer, and I'm adding more now along with some GS.
Does this sound like a sound plan to you guys?
I do plan on running a feeder now, and getting aeration set up "next" summer.
Jeff

IMHO With a forage base like that and a cool water fish pond I would be looking at dropping in some bonus WE 4 to 6 inch. Not sure I would put in the GSH but that's just me. I see GSH and LMB together, not SMB. I would be looking at BNM and/or SFS to add forage for the YP. IMHO I would want my SMB focused on YP a couple years from now, not GSH. Yer WE and larger YP could hammer the SMB spawn.

I believe it's too cold for most turtles, there have been sightings of a massive snapper by a pond soon to be dug out and stocked w bg and yp for a guys grandkids andnext to a Creek I trap bait out of. Not sure the turtles story but the grandpa has some feelings about it.

Poor turtle. Sort-of.... Bill Cody do you think yp eggs repellent snapp er s too?