Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Minnow Problem

Throw up a picture when you can. They may be the young fish of a larger fish, or they may stay small.

Water temp plays a role in stocking a predator fish, to an extent. If the fish stay small, then only smaller predators will prey heavily on them. That's why a pic or an ID is important.

If you can give a guesstimate on the temps in the summer, that might be close enough. I was thinking Hybrid Striped Bass, but I am not 110% sure how well they would do if the minnows stayed small and were in warm water.

Sounds to me unless his temps are real high that HSB would be his best bet. He can get them a bit larger they don't spawn like other fish would then you have small fish from other fish as well as minnows getting caught in the filter.... He doesn't sound like he care about fishing really....

The only thing is eventually like Esshup said the HSB may end up starving....... or being very skinny but once again if quality of fish and fishing is not a concern still his best bet to go with HSB.... If he can and he can get them....

RC

Pretty amazing some one built a 30 acre lake and only put in one species of minnow. Are you sure there are not other fish in the lake. 30 acres is pretty big and you could have lots of fish out of site.

I know its not what you are asking about , but your answers just make me have more questions, just out real curiosity.

What kind of plants are you harvesting.
What machines are you cooling and what do they do.
are the plants and the machines related to each other some how?

if you have Gambusia, "IMO" you will not be able to eliminate them to any great degree in a large lake with lots of floating vegetation. Can you submit a picture of the "minnow" in question.

Funny story. When I worked for Shell Oil in Sarnia Ontario late one night we had a cooling line freeze up. So the other operator and I switched to another line and started steaming the first line. We were out there for hours. Being two rookies we worked and worked on this line. Finally when in for a break mentioned to the older operator about our problem. He said did you check the screen filter? Ahhh no? check it first.

So off we go belly full of coffee to check the screen. This 12" suction line was so packed with Perch we could have filled a freezer.

Long story long here maybe set up a secondary suction line and cleanable filters on each. If there is so much suction no mater what fish you add you will still have this problem. As you start to loose flow with a vac gauge on the right side if screen just switch to the other line clean screen and have the other line ready for the next time.

Cheers Don.

I would stock HSB, and would try fencing off the intake, and maybe building a better filter than has a backwash ability

I was kind of interested to see what they had going on ....

ALL fish will get caught up in suction if it is strong enough. I would let the minnows be, in the pond. What the SIMPLE solution is, is to put on a proper intake strainer that reduces suction by spreading it out over a large area. For example, on a 6" diameter intake pipe, put a 15"-20", (or larger diameter pipe) that is at least 20' long and/or "TEE'd, and has a 1/8" mesh stainless steel screen over it. If attached with flexible suction hose and in the right location, it would be easily cleaned with a garden hose.

Chances are high that the "minnow" is Gambusia. Gam's are live bearers just like guppies. They will thrive in the roots of your floating plant (I'm guessing Hyacinth's), and the gam's will keep the roots cleaner along with creating some nutrient for the plants.

A proper pre-strainer that has minimum suction will save a buttload of time and money from down time...relatively east you design, install, maintain, effective, and with one or two back up strainers to switch to, the least expensive solution, long term.

Find me a good Fab shop and materials, and I could you could have you clog free for several weeks at a time in just a few days... and for only a few grand. WAY less than rotenone, which is unlikely to kill all fish. Adding fish won't solve the minnow problem, because predator fish will need food, and even if adding enough predators, what do you do with the predators after minnows are gone? Catfish are out, because they eat plants, and so would most any fish, if starving to death.