Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose where are my golden shiners

GSH spawn in shallow vegetation or FA - I think the hatcheries use fibrous filters in their raceways for GSH eggs to adhere to and move them once fertilized to growout cells - but don't quote me on that process.

I was reviewing an article from Lusk on GSH which caused me to consider management of my larger sized GSH population:

"There’s this tiny, little ovarian parasite that rocks the world of golden shiners, and those people who produce them. Ovipleistophora ovariae is a parasite, of the class Microsporea. When it infects the ovaries of golden shiners, which it typically does after the fish spawn their first time, fecundity rates plummet, and usually by more than 40%. By the second year, most female golden shiners are functionally sterile. If the fish lives much longer than that, they are taking up space without offering much in return, such as adding to the food chain."

The last part really hit home - sterile adult females tying up carrying capacity. I have hundreds of 7"+ GSH in my largest pond that hammer Endurance BG feed, and since they inhabit a cool water predator species fishery with limited gape, that likely explains their population density - at that size only my largest SMB, HSB or WE can make a respectable effort at predation - and clearly they aren't successful too often.

So - I'll begin cast netting the feeding schools, collect and cage the largest fish, and repurpose them to my hand feed trained fish GSH chunks or freeze them for use later. GSH are easy to chunk with heavy duty kitchen shears - their scales are small and bones soft - much easier than BG.