In my opinion brook silversides is in some ways sort of like an overgown Gambusia (mosquitofish). They are a more open water fish and qite a bit faster swimmers than Gambusia and can survive moderate to significient predation pressure. They are capable of strong jumping and skipping above the surface to avoid predation. Eggs may be quite vulnerable to predation depending on what creates the food chain in the pond. When I raised them I did not like the fact that they preyed heavily on fish fry - thus suppressing recruitment of some of the more desirable fish.
Carrying capacity of minnows-shiners in a pond is highly dependent on fertility of the pond. That's not new info. Prolific minnows-shiners can quickly overeat the food supply and start to stunt therefore the pond has an overabundance of tiny minnows and too few larger minnows for a good balanced healthy forage fish population. Bruce's post hints toward an important point that it is important to properly plan and try to establish an adequate food source to be present and take over when the minnows are eliminated which is almost always relatively quickly despite lots of manmade structure. In most all instances manmade structure is inadequate as a refuge to maintain FH minnows and shiners.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/02/08 06:42 PM.
