Well, i have to say, this pond business is like a continuous outdoor science experiment
which certainly is part of what makes it fun. I stocked CNBG,FH, and RES this spring. Later that spring,flooding rain introduced bullheads and GS. Thanks neighbor
In late spring i added tilapia,SMB, and a big pile of shiners and Fh. The idea being, that the early intoduction of the SMB would need to be offset by by the extra forage. I think i made one mistake that i would like to have back.I thought the tilapia were herbivours,not omnivours, wrong
As a result,i think the predator load became too heavy. I am not seeing near as many small BG as i should be seeing. I thought the SMB would control the tilapia population, but that did not happen.I think the SMB were just too small.Though, they are in very good health right now.The tilapia quickly got too large, and became a competing predator themselves. At least, that's my current theory! I am currently overwintering some tilapia, but i am not sure when or if i will put them back in the pond.I certainly want the forage to get more of a head start next year.Hopefully the SMB will do a better job of controlling the tilapia next year, when the SMB are bigger.
