Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Wild minnows

There are many species of "wild minnows" out there. Some are very good pond candidates they just aren't raised in the aquaculture industry and therefore not available except from wild sources... This doesn't mean they are bad candidates for the pond, many times they are better candidate to reach a pondmeister's goals than the good old fathead minnow or golden shiner. Other species will live in a pond, but won't be able to reproduce so they have little to no affect when stocked. Then others can cause serious consequences if released into a pond.

Previous posters have already mentioned the serious issues that can occur by stocking "wild minnows". Disease and parasite introduction, wrongly identifying species and introducing harmful species are top of the list. There are a number of precautions that can be taken to prevent these issues, but you have to be serious about it. Bill Cody and I have been working hard the past year to compile a series of articles to cover such an undertaking. But in order to do the series of articles right, it has taken a lot of research and photographs. This is because we don't want to write a series of articles that will lead people down the wrong road and affect their ponds in a negative way. This is how the stocking of "wild minnows" can seriously affect your pond! But, if done correctly you can obtain species that are excellent for ponds from the wild that aren't otherwise available.

My recommendation is to stick with known aquaculture species if you are a beginner. Even when obtained from aquaculture sources, the risk of disease, parasite and unwanted species introduction is there. This is why I recommend you source your fish from a known reliable source and if possible hand sort your fish. But for those interested in the idea of utilizing "wild minnows", keep an eye out for the series of articles coming up. Bill and I should have them done by the end of the summer. They should be a great guide for those people who are strongly considering this idea. There will be good quality photos of the top candidate species and excellent information on their collection and use in a pond.

For those who are catching wild minnows and are wondering if they would be a good candidate species, take some quality photos of the different kinds you are catching and post them on here, Bill Cody, myself or another will try to identify them for you and tell you what species they are and if they would be a good pond candidate.