Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Putting trout into well established pond

I have a 1 acre pond here in Ontario Canada. The pond is 16 feet in the middle and gets deep very quickly as it used to be an old quarry. The pond is very old and is full of many different types of animals. It has about four large snapping turtles. Also has many frogs crayfish minnows and tons of leeches. The reason we want to put fish in is because we want to get rid of the leechs. There Are also lots of different types of waterbugs. We want to put in rainbow trout. We do not want a pond full of fish we just want to get rid of the leeches without harming our current ecosystem. There are plenty of minnows and leeches so I think the trout will have enough to eat. How many trout should we put in? Will they eat the leeches? Will they harm the current ecosystem?

Thanks
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Fyfer, I don't know the answers to your questions but wanted to tell you that your place/pond is very nice. Good luck with your goals!

Thanks

Harming the ecosystem is a "relative" question. Anytime you add something new/different, it will have consequences. You just hope that it benefits you in a way that you want. I don't see any harm in trying it to achieve your goals. The trout I add in my 1 acre pond do eat leeches. It's a good way to catch them. They are a blast to watch, jumping out of the water chasing prey.

What's the warmest your water gets? This is a big question as to will they live year-round. That may also then determine how many to stock.

The water at the surface can get to 75-80 although at the bottom it provable would never reach 65 it is probably much colder than that as the pond is deep. In the winter it fully freezes over with up to 2 feet of ice. There were trout in before that did fine so im not so concerned about temp. Could i put 5-10 in to see what would happen and if they would do fine?

With surface water temps that warm, the trout will not make it thru the summer. The wild card is if you have enough dissolved O2 at the lower, colder depths. Without an O2 meter, the only way to test is to put some in and see if they make it. Bear in mind that not all dead trout float, so they might die and you might not see them.......

Trout don't do very well in water that is over 70�F and has O2 levels less than 6.0 mg/l @ 70�F.

Esshup answers one line of thought I was having. I also wonder if they will live thru the winter if you have that thick of ice.

I would throw 10 in and see what happens. Monitor them, see if they either live thru the winter, or the summer. If they don't, then you might have to do a little more work to try and get them to live longer so you don't have to stock them multiple times per year.

If they do live and you find that it's to many, they are easy to catch and remove. If you still have leeches, then you know to add more the next time.

Thanks for your response. Trout cant reproduce in a pond right?

No, if you stock rainbows they will not breed. They spawn in fast flowing rivers.

One thing I am doing in a clients pond is aerating a different way, and we will see if trout will survive next summer. His pond is unique, as it is supposed to be VERY deep for it's size; we are talking 29 feet if he is correct and it is a 1/2 acre pond. I will have more information in the next few weeks on temp and O2 readings as the system will go in this Saturday.

fyfer that is a really nice looking pond, I can tell you that small mouth bass would thrive in there and they love leaches. Only problem is you would have to get single sex or your pond would be full of them in no time. I bet 15 or 20 would do exactly what you want.

Ok thank you very much i will look into that.