MRHELLO here is a picture of an Israeli Carp.
. It is listed as a member of the mirror carp family which takes in about all carp. Zetts said it was the best algae eater of the three main ones he recommended, Israeli Carp, KOI and Channel Catfish. I have to agree since I watched my fish from a deck for hours at a time. He posted this in his Aquatic Farming Book.
"Research at Auburn University and field trials by the Soil Conservation Service has shown that Israeli Algae Eaters are very effective in controlling filamentous algae in farm ponds and reservoirs with little if any detrimental effect upon other fish. There is no worry that the Israeli will take over the pond. It is believed they will reproduce in waters that have Blue Gills or even in waters that carp have been in for any length of time because of a hormone-like repressive factor in the water."
I fed my fish everyday and I pretty much knew what I had up until the winter fish kill. I put in 6 Israeli's and 20 KOI 15 years ago and I accounted for all of them. I never had any extra Israeli or KOI so I think they were kept under control by the bass and bluegill. Zetts said he had grass carp until he saw them cleaning out bass fry and then he got rid of them. So I suppose they were helping to keep down the fry from all fish. I never saw a grass carp eat algae so I would guess it was low on their list of foods. I'm not sure you can buy Israeli carp now. I don't see any listed where I look. I estimated my Israeli were in the 10-15-20 lb range when they died. The only fish bigger were the grass carp. The Israeli carp ate FA and even made a slurping noise when eating it. Zetts said they ate one kind of algae and the KOI ate another. I do know the KOI ate FA also. My pond is 1 acre.
