My pond is just now two years old. We put in 100 redear one year ago. Caught a couple with a cast net a couple of weeks ago and they were not much bigger than when we put them in. I worry that they do not have anything to eat. Are snails pretty much there only meal? Maybe we should have waited a couple of years to get things going before putting them in.
Pond Girl, I've been told, they eat mostly snails and fingers.
No, really, if not much natural cover, such as stumps and logs or shallow vegetation to harbor smails, they may suffer in growth. When your water gets low, plant some rye or other grass on the exposed banks to provide snail and other aquatic invertabrate habitat. Keep the ones you can net or sein out. Stock in a lower percentage, if no suitable habitat.
