Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Hello from Florida

Good morning! My name is Jonathan and my brother-in-law just purchased a property with a 1 acre pond, here in Florida. While we were celebrating our Independence Day and birth of our great nation yesterday, we had an opportunity to fish in his pond. Unfortunately I'm not convinced that there are any good fish in there and an overabundance of trash fish, specifically plecos and armored catfish. They were munching on the vegetation around the edges and coming up gulping for air. I think they have cleared out all of the good vegetation at the bottom of the pond as I was not able to feel any structure or plant life on the bottom when dragging a worm along the bottom. We also noticed that there didn't seem to be anything that were eating the bread balls that we were tossing in around the pond.

He is wanting to just have a fun recreational lake where his boys and mine can swim and catch bluegill, bass and the occasional catfish. With that in mind, it seems we will be starting a project to get the pond back in shape.

With so many of these plecos and armored catfish in the pond, I think we will start by cast netting as many as we can in hopes of greatly reducing the population. Any other suggestions for removing them? We will also be looking at the soil and water quality and possible aeration/fountain to promote better vegetation and water clarity long before we start to put any good fish in there.

In the meantime, I will be reading and absorbing as much information as possible to make this pond great again.

Might be best to kill them off and start over. The experts should way in shortly, but that would be my advice.

Welcome to Pond Boss.

Sounds like a mess. I'm not knowledgeable about plecos or armored catfish. Gulping for air would indicate an oxygen shortage/water quality issue often caused by too many fish or rotting vegetation. With the lack O2 nothing can work out.

Step one is to observe and keep notes. Step 2 would probably be to kill off/nuke everything and cast netting won't do much for you in an acre. That takes chemicals and a waiting period of about a year. The water is too warm right now to stock anything.

BTW, bread balls won't draw anything. Fountains don't aerate anything but are mostly ornamental.

How deep is it? Any way to talk to the previous owner?

Thanks for the responses. The average depth is 6ft or so and I'm not sure that there is a way to talk to the prior owner or not. Aside from the commercial aerators, any links to more creative solutions if a fountain won't work?

Fountains have there place beyond aesthetics, but they are not the best for aerating the water in typical scenarios. Smaller shallow ponds can see good benefits from the fountains, but the most effective/efficient way to aerate a pond that I have read about relies on air diffusers driven by an air pump. A 1 acre pond would need at least 4 diffusers driven by, for example, a 1/4 hp rotary vane pump. 6 to 9 diffusers may be more appropriate for 1 acre ponds with hot summers or odd shapes. This pushes the pump size up too (3/4 hp).

I would definitely do some cast netting, seining, trapping, and fishing to determine the size classes of trash fish (and others) you have and their abundance. Ponds can be turned around by stocking predators that are large enough to not be eaten themselves, but this takes years. Like others have said...draining/nuking the pond and stocking from scratch should yield the fastest results.