Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain 1st time pond owner question re: raising fish...

First, I cannot say enough about how helpful this site has been to me.

Well - here's another one....

I have a pond that I just stocked last year. App 1/3 acre w/ the deepest part in excess of 15' - tapering up on one end into an area where there are shallows < 4'.

Now - I live in CA & the pond is in NY, my brother-in-law is up there every weekend - so most of this comes from him.

I stocked the pond w/ app 30 LMB, 30 Hybrid Blue Gill, 30 Perch, 30 Hybrid Channel Cats, some rock bass, and 4 Koi/carp for the algae - as well as fat heads.

They are all growing well btw - the koi was app 6" in July and now is over 12"...same upsize for all of the fish....all are doing well.

Here is my question(s):

Seems like there is always just a handful of BG & LMB along w/ the white Koi in the 'shallows' - probabky 15-20 fish total at any one time.

First question - is it a male or female thing as to which fish are hanging in the shallows this time of year? Meaning - is it one sex or the other that prefers the shallow water this time of year and their mates are in the deep end?

Another example the only koi we see is the white one (there are 2 gold and 1 more white/gold) - why is the white koi always in the shallows too?

Second question - didn't see any obvious fish kill this winter (on the surface or shore) - how does one know what 'made it' thru the winter if there wasn't any obvious kill that we could see on the surface?


Thanks again PB!!

This forum truly is a great place... And all free! Hard to believe... And it's only gonna get better!


It isn't a male or female thing this time of year as to which fish like the shallows. Fish are cold blooded and have a preferred temperature range, depending on the species. As the shallows warm in the spring time, both sexes of the same species will utilize shallow areas as they warm faster. However, for species like bass, they also come to the shallows to spawn. The males which are usually smaller are the ones who will be building and guarding the nests so they will be spending more time in the shallows. Usually 2'-4' of water... The females will stage in deeper water not far from the nesting males and then come into the shallows to spawn with them. Koi also prefer warmer water and will utilize it in the spring and also to feed as their is most likely more food there for them.


Hard to say why the white koi utilizes the shallow area more. Perhaps he is more visible? It's hard to tell... Koi which are selectively bred common carp, will eat some algae, but it is not a major % of their diet. I wouldn't expect them to make a real dent in any algae problem you may experiences, particularly a filamentous algae problem.


You're never going to know for sure what exact fish made it. It's important to keep catch logs to track your pond from year to year. This way you can see if one year compared to another you all of a sudden are having much lower catch rates. This could indicate a previously unobserved problem like a winter kill. If you didn't observed many fish floating, you most likely didn't have one. IME, when bass and BG die, they eventually float... Look into purchasing a seine in the 30'-50' range this spring and try doing a seine survey in the shallow area of your pond in mid June. What you catch in the survey can often give a pretty good picture of who's spawning in your pond and the overall dynamics of the fish community...

Hope these were the answers you were looking for... If not, ask away and I will try to get you better answers.

Super - this is all helpful.

On the koi question. As this is my first pond - where I bought the fish to stock - the guy was really after me to do that - because of the algae. The pond gets water from runoff and a small pump that can dump app 500 gal/day into it - so some concern I would get algae w/o a true inlet outlet and flow - so far btw that has not happened.

So...if algae is not a significant amount of their diet - what is? They have more than doubled in size from July to now.

Did I makle an error putting them in there to begin with?


This is all very helpful - thank you!

Either the guy was misinformed as to their actually ability to control algae... Or, he was purposefully misleading you to make an easy sale. An all too common practice. Even grass carp, which are much more evolved to feed on aquatic vegetation don't prefer to eat filamentous algae.


Common carp are omnivorous. They can eat and will eat water plants and algae, but prefer to scavenge the bottom for insects and their larvae, crustaceans, benthic worms, mollusks, fish eggs and occasionally small fish. I would guess in most populations, 90%+ of a carp's diet is bottom dwelling organisms. I have watched them feed heavily on mulberries as they fall from shoreline trees and they'll gladly feed on waste grains that fall into the water. There is a river where cows wade into it to drink and also use it as a bathroom. As nasty as it is, the carp are right there picking the partially digested corn right out of the cow patties.


Unless you really like watching them, I'd remove them. A lot of people like having 2 or 3 per acre of pond as they become almost like pets coming to the fish feeder in their ponds. A few usually won't cause a problem, but higher numbers can lead to turbidity issues and they begin to take up large amounts of the available biomass in a pond. Also, if they spawn, most of their young will be brightly colored also and will be easy pickins for the bass in your pond. However, some may be the more natural cryptic coloration. These young koi may survive and over successive generations look more and more like carp, causing issues.

Thanks CJ!