Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Fish ID Help?

https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showgallery&Number=553956&#Post553956


I was able to upload a couple of images to the Photo Gallery ( can't get them into a thread ). I bucket stocked 14 of these into my pond. Hope I didn't make a big mistake. Can anyone ID them for me? Thanks.

The good new is your pics came through!

However, I can't see enough of the fish to differentiate.

I can't see the mouth size at all. Or a good view of the mouth to gill plate area, which is the location of the most distinctive color pattern difference. Or the fin tips or the tail shape while spread.

However, I am a poor identifier of fish. Hopefully one of the experts will drop in.

Is there any possibility of a third type of Lepomis sunfish at your source?

My " Source " is just a neighborhood retention pond. I could catch and transfer an unlimited supply of these guys but don't want to mess up my BG / LMB stocking plan.

I'm sure I could catch more if I need a better picture.

Better close full frame pictures are always best for identification.

Various small fish

Questioning if these are GAM. I didn't knowingly stock GAM but the shape sure reminds me of them. Much as I would have liked to get a couple out of the water...this is the best I can offer at the moment.

Couple of times in the vid they will swim through.

Yes, Gambusia Affinis. Common in KS pretty much everywhere. Same down here in TX. They swim around just like GSF do and colonize pond that were not stocked with them. They are good for LMB in their first year. They are contributing to your success.

DANG! Boondoggle, went to the youtube link and watched the vid. Did you concentrate them with feed for the video? If they are that abundant all around your pond, they are probably what your growing LMB are concentrating on.

I did not notice FHM in the video. What is their population like? You wouldn't happen to have a minnow trap to take a census?

Boondoggle,

Do you have any thick weeds growing yet? If not, do you have some dense cover (like cedars) to throw in your pond?

If you can get some of your Gams to survive past the "new pond slaughter" stage and establish an ongoing breeding population, then your upcoming generations of bass and BG will thank you!

Recently added a couple more cedars in the shallows. Conveniently located next to one of the DIY spawn beds we put in.

Pickerelweed that we fenced off really got dense but it still needs to branch out for more area.
Duck Potato did so so. It was fenced as well but not great results.
Lily is flowering, which I didn't expect this year so it must be reasonably happy. It too needs to expand on the footprint too.
Iris and soft rush took but they are really more edge of water than anything that will provide much habitat.

I think next spring we will likely order in some additional duck potato, and another set of lily (detective erika). If the duck potato doesn't perform better next year....will end up going pickerelweed in it's place.

Planned placement for this stuff is Pickerelweed on the NW shoreline (water inlet), Lily along the West bank, and Duck Potato at the SW corner (High Water Overflow). These are all just off the spawning beds so once the babies are able to swim they should have access to various pond plants and all the wonderful goodies it provides.

No doubt there are fish in the cedars and our fallen tree. When I was setting the last two additions I had fish swirling around and hitting the top of the water while I was in there tugging it into place. The riprap on the other hand....holy smokes on the number of little baby fish that use it for home / grocery store.

Still not sure how the GAM got in there. Supposedly, none of the fish suppliers we used to stock the pond have them as an available fish. It would be one heck of a swim to the nearest pond in the watershed upstream that would involve crossing gravel roads with no culverts. I was actually just talking with Hartley Fish Farm about adding them in and a few days later there they are swimming around.

Welcome addition on extra forage for the fish. Hopefully they kept the super-secret path to the pond a confidential from any undesirables like GS, BH, or GSH.

Hartley's cleaned out their tank and gave me 1000 of them (Gambusia) last week when they stocked 8-10" GC, 4-6" BG and HBG. I see them everywhere now.

Should be good food for the new additions.

Very good news. Love hearing about fish doing well!

BD,

In your video, I noticed they are using the rip-rap. That's more cover than many might give credit. It would be very good for small GAM just hatched, for example.

You call your fish supplier on the phone, and a few days later the fish magically appear. That is some high quality customer service!

Boondoggle,

I also like the "look" around the pond of the emergent plants that you have started. They also do rob a little bit of nutrients from the FA.

Somebody the other day (Bill Cody?), did say that it is the submerged vegetation that takes MUCH more of the nutrients away from the FA. I also think those types of plants are the densest cover available for small forage fish (like gams), or for grass shrimp or scuds or if you ever add those.

There used to be some good threads on beneficial submerged plants. However, they are far enough in the past that I am afraid to (mis)quote them from my fuzzy memory. Maybe next rainy day you might peruse some more ideas for your pond?

P.S. Like jpsdad says, the rip rap itself is good cover in its on right.

Have you put any additional cover on the rip rap? I think that might concentrate some larger fish around the abundant smaller fish.

I used to fish in a large reservoir that would have a big flood every few years. The outlet grates would keep the big trees washed in during the flood from getting into the spillway. They would drift off and get stuck in the rip rap when the flood waters went back down.

I think those trees on the rip rap held fish EVERY single time we fished them - for any conditions other than a bright sun on a hot summer day.

I don't know how many have seen or remember the early footage of the pond from way back in Dec 2023, but we ended up lining probably 60-70% of the pond with riprap. Our location got squeezed with a couple of challenges. First up was the underground limestone that we luckily avoided. Second was the pond is located at the very corner of the property. Due to the terrain we created an L-shaped dam. The third one was a 24" gas line that crosses the property on a diagonal and in order to make sure we didn't have water in the wrong locations the L shaped dam became more of a U shape with a peninsula added in.

The riprap installation was to hopefully discourage muskrats, slow erosion, some aesthetics, and habitat for the critters in the pond. It turned out looking like the vid below.

RipRap Bonanza!

[quote=FishinRod]P.S. Like jpsdad says, the rip rap itself is good cover in its on right.

Have you put any additional cover on the rip rap? I think that might concentrate some larger fish around the abundant smaller fish./[quote]

Have three spots similar to this. This one by the peninsula, 1 at the water inlet and 1 at the high water overflow. The other two are a little closer to the spawn beds. This one has a small deepish pit carved out next to it at about 6-7' of water.

Boon, wow that's an excellent looking pond, I can tell you put a lot of planning into it and are still developing it to be even better.

I have been thinking about investing some money into an electrofishing survey but after looking at your videos, and pictures, as well as getting feedback from others on the forum I know my money could be invested in other things.

I'm selling my seldom used Ranger bass boat to pay for my newfound pond addiction. LOL

It is definitely a work in progress! Have been some highs and lows along the way, but one thing I can say is that at no point has any of it felt like work.

One of the best things about the forum is that the people (past and present) here have always chimed in with opinions in various threads. So many pics of what people have done for habitat, structure, pond design....Professionals in the industry writing long and short threads full of really fantastic and detailed info.

While we were on the hook for all the costs, some of the stocking, habitat, and design were definitely influenced here on Pond Boss. Truly standing on the shoulders of giants.

I'm curious Bill. What is it that you want to invest in for the pond vs what would you hope to gain from a survey?

You know what they say about boats. Proudest days of a boat owner are the day they buy and the day they sell! I have a '06 Ranger in the backyard too....soon it will have to find a new home as well.

I'll send you a PM and we can discuss