After stocking grass shrimp a couple years ago from Fattig into a 0.4 acre pond, I hadn't seen signs of them. Admittedly I hadn't been really looking as I have left the pond where I had stocked them alone just allowing the forage fish breed for a couple years before stocking other fish.
This year was my planned year to begin adding actual fish I could fish for into it so I have been sampling it to see where my forage fish populations were at. I had honestly thought my grass shrimp didn't take hold. Today I proved myself wrong. Just sitting on the edge of the pond watching into the shallows with polarized lenses for a couple minutes I was able to spot nearly 2 dozen grass shrimp scooting around. This pond doesn't have ideal habitat as it has no aquatic vegetation.
However, last year it was getting over run with some willows so I cut them down and then sunk them into the shallow areas in piles for added cover. The trunks and branches are now covered in algae and grass shrimp! The shrimp appear to be using the intertwined limbs as cover, feeding on the organisms growing in the algae. I'm glad to see my grass shrimp have taken hold. They'll be a huge part of my food chain as my game fish begin get added.
