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For those of you that know more about fathead minnow reproduction than I do, when is it too late in the year at my northern Indiana latitude, to get some reproducing substantially, to have some for the yellow perch to forage on over the winter? I have read they breed year around and actually prefer to breed in cooler temps.
I wanted to plant about 20 lbs. earlier, but have had other priorities like replacing a well pump, staining a masive deck around the house, and investing in my six recirculating and aquaponics systems.
Before the last drain of my largest pond, I had hundreds of thousands of them by this time of the year by planting only a few dozen in the spring. This even with the presence of a sizeable mostly female yellow perch and male only bluegill. Of course once I added smallmouth bass they were soon extirpated.
My fish came out of last winter just fine, but I can't help thinking a forage minnow supply under the ice could be beneficial.
???
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 08/23/14 01:59 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Cecil, I think you may be pushing the envelope. I think 65 degrees is the bottom spawning limit.
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Thanks Scott. I did do some reading after I made my post that indicated they can go from hatch to reproducing in 4 to 8 weeks according to American Sportsman's website. I've got a wholesaler that said he will sell me fatheads for 8 dollars a pound. He will be picking up a large bluegill mount next week and I'm going to propose some bartering. I think I'll give it a shot anyway even though I think you're right. I've been known to push the evelope from time to time!
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 08/23/14 03:04 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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At our latitude,, I think Sept 07-12 will be close to the last spawn of FHM unless someone proves me wrong. I still will have a few Spotfin shiner eggs end of Aug 26-30, however those eggs may have been laid Aug 24-28. Fishes of Wisconsin says FHM spawning will continue into fall until water temps drop to 60F-65F which or our locale this is Sept 28 to Oct 12 depending on the pond type and weather. Shallow, small ponds will cool quicker than deep high volume ponds.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/23/14 08:24 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
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Joined: Apr 2013
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For those of you that know more about fathead minnow reproduction than I do, when is it too late in the year at my northern Indiana latitude, to get some reproducing substantially, to have some for the yellow perch to forage on over the winter? I have read they breed year around and actually prefer to breed in cooler temps.
I wanted to plant about 20 lbs. earlier, but have had other priorities like replacing a well pump, staining a masive deck around the house, and investing in my six recirculating and aquaponics systems.
Before the last drain of my largest pond, I had hundreds of thousands of them by this time of the year by planting only a few dozen in the spring. This even with the presence of a sizeable mostly female yellow perch and male only bluegill. Of course once I added smallmouth bass they were soon extirpated.
My fish came out of last winter just fine, but I can't help thinking a forage minnow supply under the ice could be beneficial.
??? I'm doing the same thing Cecil. I put FHM in last fall for the YP and SMB and they were pretty well eaten by spring judging from the lack of many FHM fry this summer. I don't worry about FHM too much over the summer because I want the YP and SMB to keep bluegill recruitment down and it has seemed to work this year. I've had several crops of BG fry around the bank when I feed but they seem to mostly disappear in a few days and I only see a few making it to a larger size.
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Thank you gentlemen. I think I will be better off planting them next spring.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 08/23/14 08:15 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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You could always throw 50#-100# in there to get them thru the winter! 
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All I can add is that our 4" rip rap shore line has allowed the FHM population to boom. It must give them enough room to hide as well.
The population is so abundant that the perch have left the feed all together. I guess my perch population is not over populated.
Cheers Don.
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In my forage pond I have pallets for the FHM to spawn on, but I have seen them excavate a small amount of mud from under the 2-3" rock that lines the bank above and below the water line. They will pick a rock that is lodged over a couple of other rocks and has a cavity started, then hollow it out a little more, and spawn on the underside of the rock.
I would see one come out from under the rock and hit a floating pellet, then dive right back down to his den before any other fish could disturb his nest.
I think larger rip-rap they would really use a lot. Maybe in preference to pallets, because the above fish had his nest under a rock right near a pallet.
John
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One good thing about keeping them in FHM is you can drag a Meps Comet through the water and get a strike about every cast.
I catch small YP on worms or Stubby Steves but large ones on the Comet and I assume it is because they are used to eating minnows. It's also the only lure I've tried that catches my SMB and it also catches a fair number of larger HBG. But, my YP, except the small ones, also pretty much will leave the feed as long as minnows are plentiful. Since feed is cheaper than minnows, I'm spending more than I need to.
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You could always throw 50#-100# in there to get them thru the winter! Sure if you pay for it as an experiment. 
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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All I can add is that our 4" rip rap shore line has allowed the FHM population to boom. It must give them enough room to hide as well.
The population is so abundant that the perch have left the feed all together. I guess my perch population is not over populated.
Cheers Don. Don, I predict you're going to have some dandy perch at some point if you don't already. I've had fatheads with feed trained perch in the past. Never had any problems with thrm wiping them out like bass do.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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i just had a couple spawns in my basement (rosy reds).. i have clay pots in my aquaponic sump and single tote system for egg laying, i pull the pots with the male, and put them in glass tanks for hatching.. i've had egg laying activity at 60f from the rosy reds.. one thing i read recently that caught my attention, is that males will tend to take over a nest with eggs than make a new nest, and it helps insure that by the time the eggs start to hatch, a healthier male is taking care of the eggs, even if many were put there before he got there..i ended up with quite a large hatch this year, of course it happened right after i decided i was done with the rosy reds..
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