Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations fatheads and golden shinners?

Theo is pretty harsh words for the golden shiners (GS).

1. GS have been reported in some of the literature to eat fish eggs but so do lots of other fish including bgill. The degree of "egg stealing" is probably directly related to the density of the shiners and the amount of their available food. Shortages of natural food supplies of GS probably results in greater amounts of egg predation including their own. Normal densites of GS I think do not eat very many eggs of other fish that make and guard nests. I have a strong GS population in one of my ponds and there does not seem to be a shortage of young fish of any of the resident reproducing species (SMB, perch, bgill, green sunfish, yellow bullheads).

2. I do not think GS get too big for LMB to eat. Quite the contrary. A 15"-16" LM bass can easily eat a 10" GS. However a SMBass may have not prey heavily on the 8"-10" GS.

3. The ovarian parasite and sterilzation of female GS is reported in the older literature but a lot of this research came from minnow farms where GS were raised in crowded conditions. The ovarian parasite problem increases as the density of GS increases. I have what I determine a normal population of GS and all the large females (6"-10") that catch during late June early July are full of eggs. Ovarian parasites do not seem to be a problem in my pond.

4. The main disadvantage to GS as I see it is that you tie up fish biomass into a fish that is not a harvestable or cleanable fish for the table. GS will compete with other fish that eat zooplankton and small insects.

Another disadvantage is if you fish with worms or small live baits the GS can be bait stealers and somewhat annoying. Otherwise I don't see a lot of problems with them. They are beneficial in diversifying your forage base and provide good forage items for fish eating predators.

Once you have LMB established and then try and introduce GS you may have some difficulty due to the LMB eating most of the adult GS before they can develop a breeding population.

PS - My notes indicate that when I counted and weighed 1" fatheads there were closer to 600 per pound. At 2" there are about 300 fatheads to the pound.