Travis, I've never considered this before, but I wonder how they might do in a typical LMB / BG pond. Have you heard of anybody bucket stocking them into private ponds?
If there is enough weedy cover, mudminnows are pretty predator tolerant. They will never be in large numbers, but they will generally persist. They are also very nocturnal. It takes them quite a long time to "come out of their shell" when placed into an aquarium. However, once they get used to you and the lights, they are really neat fish to watch and study. Never knew anyone else to bucket stock them. It has most likely happened as I have seen them show up in fish surveys the VDGIF has done on lakes and ponds in VA that would have no way for them to naturally occur in them...
Snakeheads made their way all the way to the Potomac River in no time.
They did genetic testing and found the ones in the Potomac River are not related to the fish in the pond in Crofton, MD. My bets are the live fish markets and Asian community in the area, ended up with a handful getting released into the Dogue Creek area where they were first most abundant and they took off from there.
There is an unrelated population in parts of the Susquehanna River watershed as well. The ones showing up in the Rappahhanock are related to the Potomac River fish. My guess is either bucket stocking or some fish road a freshwater bulge and made it through the Bay.
