Theeck,
In your 6/4/17 updates, were you ever able to get fry from your purchased GSH?
Or did you have problems raising the fry to maturity?
Or bears tore open your feeder, or other "non fish" problems ruined your plans?
Your third quess was pretty much right on. My first problem was the water flowing into the tank came from an underground spring and was only peaking at about 60 degrees. I added a small heater but it burned out after a week without any noticeable increase in temperature (I guess it was too small). Then bears started raiding the feeder breaking it. Finally, a bear, while messing with the feeder, detached the water hose and all the fish died from low oxygen. I life an hour and a half away from the cabin where we have the pond. I only get there on weekends. When a problem arises, I don't know about it right away. I ended up abandoning the plan and putting a handful of trout in instead.
I recently started thinking about trying it with a couple pounds of fatheads. I like to fish for crappie and there are no bait shops with fatheads withing at least an hour drive. If they spawned, that would be a bonus. I'm sure bears could be a problem again but I have a duck feeder down by the pond (about 200 yards away from the tank) that I keep full of corn or scratch grains for the 3 pet ducks we have on the pond. The bears haven't touched it this year. I think the alternative food source away from the cabin might keep the bears down by the pond and away from the tank. Even if they destroy the fish feeder at the tank, I think I can probably feed them enough on weekends to get them through the week if I keep the population low. Maybe I could put a mosquito zapper above the tank so they can feed on the insects that get zapped and fall during the week (just an idea). I have an electric fence charger too but that starts getting a bit more involved than I really want to get for fatheads.
