Built a FHM spawning substrate condo today. Would have put it in the pond but 20 mph north winds and very cold discouraged me. Will wait for a better day but want to get it in the pond ASAP because the next warm spell I'm sure the FHM will be in spawning mode.
When I put FHM in this pond they were there only for a RES population. I did not worry too much about their reproduction because even a modest amount would be enough. Now that I have added 90 SMB I wish I would have put in spawning substrate earlier for them and I wish I would have put in more FHM initially. But that is hind sight. I'm worrying a little now that the SMB have put the hurt to the FHM population over the winter as all I am seeing are very small schools of very small fish. No adult FHM have come to feed that I know of. I may put some additional FHM in this spring when the fish truck comes around if I do not see more activity in the next month.
But back to the build of the FHM condo. If it looks a little crude it is because all of it is from scraps laying around except the screws. They were new. The wood panel came from a 1970 build of a hog farrowing house my dad and I did when I was in high school. It has been stored in that shed the last 30 years thinking it would be good for something some day. Today was the day. The blue insulation came from a tear down of our old turkey grow out barns (gosh I'm glad we no longer have livestock). The PVC pipe I had laying around from previous projects. The blue foam will be on top for flotation for when the boards water log (which they will - been there done that). The pictures with the PVC pipe will obviously be under water for the FHM to spawn in. I cut two holes in one end of the panel the right size to drive two T posts through into the bank. So it will lay lengthwise out into the water from the banks edge, attached to the bank by the posts and allowed to float up and down on the posts to accommodate different water levels, much like a floating dock held by posts. This is quite a bit different from my earlier FHM condo's that I built. Another FHM condo of different design earlier versions I mostly depended on boards spaced a couple inches apart whereas this mostly uses PVC pipes for FHM protection although they can still use any part of the underside. Also before I used ropes to keep the condo's from drifting around but was never completely happy with that. They would still move some with the wind and when water levels raised they would come close to the bank and when water receded wedge partially up on the bank. I hope the T post tethering will both keep the condo in place better and allow it to follow water levels better.
Pictures of the build below and explanations with the pictures. The extra holes drilled in the PVC is to give good water flow for good O2 levels. If it floats a little high I will add some rock to the top. Had to do that on some others I previously built.
