Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Carp Permit

I recently expanded and exixting pond to three times it's original size. I've noticed that the weed growth has escalated. This is my first pond and I do not believe I have any Carp which I understand can keep this under control. I am told that in order to buy Carp from a fish farm, I must have submit a permit for it (in Texas). Can you comment on the ability for Carp to help this weed situation and can you advise where to go to apply for the permit?

Thanks,

Mike

Grass carp prefer some weeds over others. You need to figure out what kinds of weeds you want to get rid of. The fish farm should have the permits there.

They helped in some tanks I manage, and all it takes is a call to Tx. Parks and Wildlife to get the application. Pretty simple.

TP & W has the permits. You will have to attest that there is no way that they can escape and get to public waters. You submit the filled out application and they OK it. We paid $15 per fish from a supplier for 10 to 12 inch fish for a neighbors pond. I think there is a maximum allowed of either 10 or 15 per acre. It is my observation that this is way too many. We put in 7 last summer in a weed filled, one acre mess. This year, no weeds. However, they got all of the weeds for the baby fish to hide. There is a tradeoff here and I'm not sure where it is. I once saw a post that said that research suggests that they may have a 50% mortality rate. I don't know but there is a reason to be careful.

thought some of you would like to hear this story. there is a private 50 or 60 acre lake buy my house , built in the 50's , one guy owned it then , NICE. at one time or another grass carp where put in , now the lake has lots of them. in spring they wash over the damn into a pool at the bottom. things are 20 to 30 pounds and a blast to snag. we have netted some and put in other ponds. so back whenever and even now i guess they are not completely sterile.

Mike C.

You can get the permit application from the Texas Parks and Wildlife website here. There are also lots of other useful articles there. The maximum number permitted is 10/acre. How effective they are depends on a number of things, most notable the species and quantity of vegetation in your pond.

All of the grass carp legally available in Texas are sterile. The same cannot be said of other states, however.

Mike's weed problem appears to be mostly primrose, along with some filamentous algae and maybe some duckweed. Grasscarp aren't a likely solution for this problem. Here's a picture of his pond: Primrose