Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Ice out!

Shorty:

I have RES in a cage in the pond. The cage is 3' square and 4' deep, and the cage is at the end of the pier in 10'-12' of water. Matt didn't get here in time to transfer them to one of his ponds (they were feed trained on Optimal and are the start of selective breeding for pellet trainability) before ice locked in my pond.

I checked the cage when the ice left the pond earlier this week and while there were some morts., the majority of them survived the winter. The pond was ice covered for about 2 - 2 1/2 months. Since they were in the cage, they couldn't get any deeper in the pond than 3 1/2' from the ice.

This area is approximately the northern edge of RES in public waters. Most public waters have both RES and PS in them here. The local lake has had RES in it since it was restocked in 1969, and it hasn't been restocked by the state since.

I think that the longer that you have RES in your pond, they will become more cold tolerant. Each generation will have cold tolerant survivors, and the overall cold tolerance of the RES in the pond will improve. I don't think you have to worry about aerating in the winter, providing you place the diffuser in the correct depth. I would rather have the option of turning it on and opening up the pond than to take a chance on a DO crash if the winter is bad.