Prags1 sent me an email asking if minnows or young bluegill are stocked into this new pond will they have something to eat. Here is my answer -
For your comment of: "One question, if adding the minnows or bluegill/panfish fingerlings now, will they have enough to eat in a 3 week old pond?�.
The answer all depends on the current conditions of the new pond.
1. What is the water source for filling the pond? Watershed runoff and stream water introduces or seeds into the pond a host of many types of microscopic fish food. These introductions then reproduce and mulitply if conditons are "RIGHT". If well water or just rain water fills the pond then the community of microscopic and larger invertebrates have to naturally develop in the pond which is a somewhat slower process that can take months or years for a HIGHLY DIVERSE microscopic fish food commumity to develop. However ponds can and do quickly develop within a few weeks a basic microscopic food chains that contain what I will call the simple food chain consisting of several dominant planktonic and benthic invertebrate species. This early food chain is very adequate to feed the first stocking of minnows and or some small bgills.
2. Fertility of the new pond will determine how many of the tiny fish food types that will develop. Fertility will cause more food to grow which will ultimately feed more fish biomass. Fertility (fertilizer - nutrients) will not be effective and cause the adequate foods and amounts to develop without the proper water hardness or alkalinity. So only sometimes fertilizing a pond will stimulate more rapid and greater amounts of fish food for small fish. Sometimes just "weeds" develop when fertilizer is added.
3. What is the water clarity of the pond as it fills or after it is full? If the water clarity is greatly reduced due to mud, clay or other inorganic dirt particles suspended in the water, then this can suppress the overall development of the planktonic (free floating) organisms. Amount of suppression that the turbidity imparts is pretty much inversly proportional to the amount of silt - more silt results in less plankton. Silt also interferes with the life functions of filter feeding zooplankton. The plant plankton needs to receive light to stimulate the growth process. Without light penetration into the water plankton reproduction is hindered and it is basically limited to the water depth (upper shallow zone) where adequate light concentrations are present. - usually the upper couple of feet.
4. If your pond has water clarity of 18" to 2ft then a "normal" microscopic plankton can develop if an average or minimal water fertility (nutrients) is present. If only rain water or well water is filling the pond, then you might want to introduce or seed some basic types of beneficial zooplankton into the pond to "jump start" or enhance the basic fish food chain.
Normally, seeding of zooplankton into a pond is NOT necessary and Mother Nature quickly does this for you. The soil and airborne spores or resting stages of algae & zooplankton are typically ever-present in the environment. Fish hatchery water often contains many of these microscopic viable and dormant organisms and sometimes even the unwanted or nuisance species are present. How well all the organisms that get seeded into the pond survive, always depends on the overall water quality of the pond.
You can collect your own zooplankton seed water by transferring 5 to 10 gallons of water into your pond from another healthy pond with good water quality. However this is always a "crap shoot" because you do not know for sure what is microscopically in the other pond�s water. IDEALLY you want to try and get water from a pond that does not have a history of nuisance algae blooms such as those caused by numerous bluegreen (Cyanobacteria) species. Unless you know all the basic annual cycles of the donor pond be careful about deciding about using this method.
Another good and safer zooplankton seeding process is to purchase some live zooplankton (Crustacean) cultures from a biological supply company such as Carolina Science. I would recommend any one or a combination of the cultures of Crustaceans mixed, Copepods, or Daphnia pulex. Each small culture sells for around $6.25 to $10.25; shipping charges will vary depending which form you choose. You only need one to a couple of the individual cultures. If conditions are correct in your pond, and it is fishless, then the seeded zooplankters will rapidly reproduce, to within a week or two, produce millions of new individuals to serve as a basis for the food chain-web in your pond. See the link below for an example of some crustacean zooplanktonic organisms that are available by mail order.
https://www2.carolina.com/webapp/wcs/sto... tom=Y&top=N So depending on your answers to the above items, then hopefully your answers will give you an idea if newly introduced fish will have enough to eat. As a general rule the smaller the new fish are, the better the chances are that they will have enough appropriately sized food items for growth and a thriving survival in a new pond. Larger sized stocker fish obviously come from an established pond that had an established and diverse food web or chain. Putting large fish into a new pond is unwise unless you have taken numerous PROPER steps to insure the presence of a full or healthy food chain. Good and diverse organisms in a food chain takes some time to develop in a new pond.
Since it is past the spawning season for minnows, I recommend that you wait another several weeks and to stock any fingerling fish. This will allow some more time to hopefully increase the water clarity (sediment settling) and the surface area (more filling) and more importantly allow a little more time for the invertebrate and plankton communities to get seeded, reproduce and flourish based on your present pond conditions. Take the time now to do some homework and decide where the best place is to buy some good quality fish fingelings and try to purchase them before December. This will give these forage fish and or panfish fingerlings some time during fall and winter to get established, produce a little growth and or improved body condition (fat). Then they will be able to be in good condition to reproduce next spring to provide an abundant supply of healthy forage fish.
Good luck with your new pond and ask more questions on Pond Boss as the pond community develops. It would be beneficial to purchase Bob Lusks Pond Management and Trophy Bass Raising books. See how to order them from the Home Page of the Pond Boss Website.
