I've had my PK shrimp in two ponds since 2009. One pond is 1/10 of an acre and has no fish in it other than roughly 10 all male BG. The other pond is 0.34 acres, 7' deep. It's in northern VA. Since they were stocked, we've had lows down to -5 and ice cover in excess of 1 month. We've had summer temps over 105 and water temps that have pushed into the mid 90's. The PK shrimp have survived these conditions no issues... PK shrimp are native from the Great Lakes down to the Gulf of Mexico. So, there are few weather extremes they cannot handle. The larger pond I have them in has no vegetation. It does contain a large number of willows on about 1/3 of the shoreline with a lot of twisted roots, a fair amount of submerged woody structure and FA. It is a mostly mud/detritus bottom. However, I have a limited predatory fish population which is a factor in why the PK shrimp have done well in this pond without an submerged vegetation. I can tell you, that GSH, banded killifish and even FHM will readily prey on PK shrimp. I watch them gang up on a shrimp and literally tear it to pieces. I commonly see shrimp hopping out of the water to avoid being eaten. I regularly see shrimp eating Aquamax pellets that have floated to the shore. They will gladly clean up what the fish don't get. You really cannot go wrong in stocking PK shrimp in your ponds...
