Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Food in the Pond

Greetings,

I have a few questions that I would like to ask regarding food sources for the newly stocked 1-3 inch bluegill and 3 inch bass.

1. I have a ton of the black water bugs that skate around on top of the water. Do the fish eat these things?

2. I also have a ton of round black bugs under the water that swim around. They look like the ones that are on top, but they seem to stay under water. What are those and do the fish eat them?

3. We have a lot of frogs in the pond and I'm starting to see a bunch of tadpoles. Do fish actually eat tadpoles?

I keep expecting to notice the water bug numbers to decrease, but so far, they're thriving and I'm guessing the fish don't eat them for some reason.

Larger fish eat all of the above. Some of the larger bugs and beetles will actually eat the smaller fish. As your fish grow a little, they will be out of danger, and eat the bugs and beetle larvae.

My stocking year was the same as yours. I had millions of back swimmers, assorted beetles and bugs. Now that my fish are larger, I seldom see any, and when I do see one he better be running for his life.

Good info Bobad.

It will be interesting to see those top skaters vanish. I keep thinking the population is going to diminish, but they're still everywhere having a blast skating around in circles.

Also, lots of tadpoles are starting to show up and I was thinking those would be great food for the 3" bass I stocked about a month ago.

My feeders are going off three times a day, but I'm not seeing much activity there yet. So, I went and caught about 20 bluegill out of the smaller pond yesterday and put them in the bigger pond. They're used to eating pellets, so mayble they'll kick start the pellet feeding in the larger pond soon.

Yea, great idea. The little guys probably don't naturally take to floating pellets right away.

Next year, I think your tadpoles will be way down, if not totally absent. Sometimes I think frogs survey the water for predators, and find the most suitable ponds. I think the bass will make them move along.