Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Depth needed for fathead minnows

Hello everyone, I've been building some ponds by hand the last couple of weeks and was wondering how deep should I dig to keep fathead minnows alive throughout the year? I live in Arkport , Newyork southernteir and I've got alot of clay the ponds are spring fed and I had to use a subpump to stay ahead of the water. They are both full and I've been reinforceing the dams the last couple of days. I go online and visit this websight almost everynight and can never find much information about fatheads an [img]http://[/img] d how to raise them so I figured I'de ask.. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this websight very much .I would like to send some pics of my work also but, I can't figure out how to do it?If anyone out there can help me out I would greatly apreciate it.The one pond is aproximently 4' deep and at the one end it is square aprox 10'x12' then it goes to a 5' alley way to a circular pool that is aprox 8' in circumference. At the square end I have 2 2" pieces of pvc pipe that go through a 8'dam into another pond that is 16'x 4' x 3' deep .At the far end of this pool the water goes through another bigger piece of pvc pipe probly 6" to a 200' ditch that I dug by hand to the road ditch.

kris - to place or insert photos in a post go to the Arcives on the forum main page. Look In the Intro Section for the heading of "Common Pond Q&A (Archives)". Near the page bottom will be a topic of "Posting Photos on PBoss Forum". This should explain in fairly good detail how to add photos. Follow the instructions to the LETTER. If I can do it most anyone can. Ask questions if you are having trouble with the procedure.

Fatheads, I will assume that you want to overwinter the fatheads from one year to the next. Overwintering can have pros and cons depending on your use for the minnows.

If your small shallow ponds are covered with lots of snow for periods greater than 3-4 wks in winter the fish will probably winter kill. The easiest way to prevent this is to keep snow off the ponds - shoveling. Depths of 3 ft may not be enough in your region based on severity of winter weather. Depths of 5'-6' would give you a little more room for error than the 3ft depths. I have successfully maintained fatheads in a 3 ft deep pond during northern Ohio winters. Snow removal was a necessity. Two main problems of the numerous problems you will encounter are dealing with rooted weeds (vegetation) and parasites. As you gain experience with this project, you might discover that it is easier and with less aggravation to each year remove the annual production, drain the small ponds, refill in spring, and start with a new brood stock. Lots of information has been posted here about good spawning material or devices for fathead minnows. Use the "Search" feature at the upper right portion of each page to look for old information about fathead minnows. There should be quite a few posts in the headings of Questions and Observations, Creating the Food Chain, and Types of Fish to Choose. If you need more info, ask specific questions.

thankyou, I'll try to add those pics.

still can't figure out how to send a pic? I don't see anything that shows it ..

I think i might be getting the picture thing Bill.

Here is a good thread on FH growout methods/structure.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000130;p=1

Thanks Ewest, realy good info.

I still can't figure out how to send a picture but, my main purpose for raising the fathead minnows is to provide bait fish for my other fish. I have a half acre pond that I had dug with 2 bull dozers 2 years ago. It's 16' deep and I areate it with a gast 1/3 hp. I have trout, bass, bluegill, crappie, and catfish. Last year I threw in 8 pounds of fatheads and the fish loved them, I would also like to use the fatheads for bait when I want to go fishing.

kristoffer - where do you seem to be having your first problem with posting a photo. Keep in mind that you are not actually sending a photo. First you have to upload or transfer your digital photo to a website such as Photobucket. DID YOU GET THAT ACCOMPLISHED?

Then you copy-paste (transfer) that photo (in the form of a link) to the PondBoss site with the aid of the "Image" button.