Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding introducing and establishing mayflies

Hi Guys , I am the new guy , been reading the forum for some time now but took the plunge and signed up today. I am searching for info on introducing mayflies(Ephemeroptera) to a pond I am managing, has anyone done this , suggestions ? I have observed other ponds which have an established mayfly colony and the game fish seem to really feast on them for the few weeks that they are present, I am open for ideas.

Is the pond aerated with bottom diffused aeration?

no , not yet but being condsidered. its a 5 acre pond about 12'foot on the deep end but avg about 4'. what would cost of aeration eq be ?

Dissolved oxygen (DO) at probably 2 or 3 ppm is needed on the bottom at the mud water interface for mayflies to survive year round. A few hours with too low of DO on the bottom will eliminate all mayflies in that benthic zone. The annual temperatures which determine the heat units per year will determine how long the life cycle is for burrowing mayflies. Their life cycle can be one year in warmer areas or up to 24 months in colder enviornments.

Mayflies are better than dragonflies IMO, because dragonflies compete with YOY fish for zooplankton and other tiny invertebrates, while mayflies can subsist on detritus and algae. Bill, double check for me, but aren't mayflies more of a primary consumer?

...so I too am interested in creating environments that are conducive to mayfly production.

Look up aeration on this site. You'll find an ocean of info. Some boys went homemade, other retail. You are looking at about $900 to ~$4000, depending on your involvement, number of diffusers, etc. It's worth the research, at a minimum.

Make sure you get your pond properly sized for aeration. A 5 acre pond is a lot different than a 1/2 acre pond. Smaller ponds can get by with a DIY system, but if underaerated, your pond can have more problems and you definately won't get your oxygen up high enough on the bottom to support a mayfly population. Very interesting topic!

I forgot to add that my estimate did not include electrical run-ins, connections, conduits, boxes, etc.

Thanks for the replies. I think the weather temps are condusive since several other ponds in the immediate area have mayflies present. The issue with this pond is no readily source of electricity without alot of cost, although it is feed by 5 springs constantly so I am hoping this may help with oxygen, I will test soon. Pond was drained and filled and restocked last year , but there were no mayflies present that year either. Assuming the environment were suitable , what is the procedure to establish mayflies.

In that case, have you considered windmill aeration?

Sue, aeration systems when sized properly help control and modify algae blooms in many ways, but perhaps this is a new one! Everything I'm reading supports the idea that mayflies are primary consumers which dine on algae, which is a great way to convert sunlight energy as directly as possible to fish muscle mass. I am still impressed with how beneficial my Vertex designed system was for my ponds. Interestingly, after installing the system, I remember noticing an increase in mayfly numbers. Very interesting!

Mayflies, like numerous other types of animals, have different feeding habits. There are around 500-700 species in North America- most of the species are stream dwellers. Feeding habits depending on species range from herbivores, detritivores (small bits of organic matter) to predators (few). The various species have different development cycles.

I assumed, although maybe incorrectly, that 'pondfather' was referring to a subgroup called burrowing mayflies which are often the common larger forms in lakes/ponds and are primarily detritivores - usu. filter feeders. 'Burrowing' mayflies are usually the largest mayflies in an area. The other main subgroups are swimmers, sprawlers, clamblers/clingers, and climbers/crawlers.
•Crawlers, who spend their underwater life crawling between rocks and pebbles.
•Clingers, who are flat little things that live in fast water and rarely lose their grip on the bottom.
•Swimmers, who flip their tails and swim.
•Burrowers, who dwell in sediment.

Thus depending on which species you have most common in your area, this will determine its life style and feeding habits. Most mayflies are either herbivores or detritivores - some utilize both, grazing on algae and detritus. I am not real familiar with the mayflies of SE United States. Ponds and lakes with good water quality and low chemical inputs will often have two or three types of mayflies present. My ponds in NW Ohio have at least 5 species and maybe 6-7 species of mayflies of various sizes and different emergence periods.

Whats the best way to get there eggs in your pond? Dig in the bottom of a pond that has them? Grab adults from a light?

If you build it they will come. I have two species in my pond that probably were seeded from other ponds or lakes as I'm in a lakes region.

A word of caution- beware of burrowing mayfly larvae. My pond had an excellent visibility of 36-48" until this past spring where it dropped to 4". I was baffled and pissed- I did all of the tests and deciphered that I had a mechanical disturbance. It wasn't wave action and I didn't have undesirable fish. I shut my aerator off and gave it 3 weeks to "heal" but that wasn't the cause.

One day I noticed a giant casing from a large, burrowing species of mayfly that had recently emerged. I knew this possible from past readings, but could it be that mayfly larvae where causing turbidity?

Knowing that copper compounds are toxic to invertebrates, I decided to drop a large Cutrine bomb on my pond while quoting Pulp Fiction "I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger......" The next day there 1000's upon 1000's of dead mayfly larvae. There is no mistaken the large burrowing species. About 3 days later my pond began to drastically clear. The sediments of the pond bottom resembled swiss cheese from all of the holes and tunnels created by the giant larvae. My pond got back to normal. It was pleasant to view and enjoy, my fish began to eat their feed again, and my wife and kids started to swim in the pond again.

Thanks for that piece of information, Shawn. That's new to me.

This is a great topic! Very interesting Shawn!! I never would have thought in a million years that mayfly larvae could cause such a disturbance!

I have seen that here in the SE but not to the extent that they significantly reduced visibility. They do help with algae and detritus reduction. However I don't want them re-suspending the entire pond bottom.

This is very interesting! What species removes suspended particulates from the water column? Filter feeding bivalves...

Oddly enough, we had millions of mayflies this year at the Quarry, and the fish feasted on them, but we had an unexplained turbidity event that last several weeks until the first big freeze. The turbidity made absolutely no sense given the fact that wind barely reaches the water. The long-time owner says he's never seen a whitecap on the lake, even in 60mph winds because it sits 50 feet below the surrounding terrain. Could it have been insectivorous? I had considered crayfish as a strong candidate for the suspension, but never crossed my mind that there could be millions of burrowing mayflies in the bottom sediment!

If the mayfly sedimentation event was similar to aeration,however, it should be self-limiting right? Eventually the sediment gets processed and offloaded to the atmosphere? Weird thoughts.

From now on Shawn's Mayfly Sedimentation Event will be referred to as an "MSE".

I can't imagine 1000's of larvae being a problem , wouldn't the bass and BG control (eat) them quiet quickly ? Thanks for all the replies I am getting alot of info but I still haven't actually figured out how to get them to establish in the pond, are you guys saying to just wait on mother nature are can I do something to kick start the effort?

Burrowing mayflies can develop densities of hundreds and close to 1000 per square yard. At those densities turbidities can evidently increase according to S.Banks and B.Condello. I think a way to introduce mayflies to your pond is to buy some from a local supplier or bait shop. You may have to have them special ordered from their supplier. You want local species not ones shipped in from several states away. Locally collected mayflies have a much better chance of establishing in your pond. Bait shops often call mayfly larvae 'wigglers'; adults are referred to as Mays, Upwings, Duns, Spinners, Dippers, Fish Flies.
Since the adult mayflies are winged and after their final molt they can fly to nearby bodies of water where they lay eggs. If conditions are acceptable the larva of hatched eggs will survive and populate that pond/lake. Stocking mayfly larvae into a pond increases the chances of mayflies laying eggs in a pond.
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg3.html