Bill,
I mean both. Until recently I've given plankton very little thought in terms of my ponds or fish tanks. I've thought of them mostly as marine organisms and of little interest or importance to me. But after I got to looking at freshwater shrimp I kept looking for more info on freshwater crustaceans and that led to plankton, among other things. When it comes to building the food pyramid in ponds, plankton and pond plants are good places to start. Last summer I filled a 95 gal stock tank with well water and a few days later added a pound of FHM. I was losing a few minnows every day until I added some pond water. As the water began to turn green, the number of dead minnows declined to almost none.
I'm fascinated by the tiny critters in ponds and the role they play in the health of the pond. I think it's too big to be overlooked by pond managers. It also looks like some aspects of pond plankton and larger crustaceans such as shrimp and crawfish can be manipulated rather easily compared to plants and fish populations. But I'm just getting into this, and I'd like to hear from people who actually know something about it. I'm especially interested in the easy steps someone might take to improve the bottom of the food chain.
