I am new to this forum so the question may have already been ask and answered We eradicated the pond the first of May, Stocked 70 lbs of fatheads May 10th, they have spawned like crazy since then, when going out in our boat I can see hundreds of thousands of baby minnows anywhere from 1/4” - 1” in size. Have never seen any of the original adults or anything over 1”. They seem like they have not grown at all. Have the original stock minnows and the larger newborns moved to deeper water where I can not see them or what is going on ?
Your guess is probably accurate. Most times the sexually mature are hard to see and the rigors of spawning kill a lot of them-especially males. Once they reach 1 to 1-1/2" they are starting the cycle again. Your observations sound very normal to me..
I’m obviously still new to this whole pond situation and just amazed at minnow growth I finally caught a few of the original minnows that were stocked in early May and Netted a few that I’m assuming we’re the first offspring. There are still tons of little babies along the surface, are these things by chance still spawning ? Guess I figured by now most of the newborns would be gone and I would see all these 1.5” + guys swimming around Patients, They have about 30 days to grow up and become dinner
They won't all get eaten on day one.. You have FHM fry hatching literally every day. They may slow down in the heat but usually get back after it when it just starts to cool down a tad.