Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Grass Carp

Just curious how many years a grass carp will live. I put 2 in my pond 10 years ago. Seen 1 of them a few months ago 4 the first time. Not sure how big it is but close to 2 - 2 1/2 feet would be my guess.

Can live 20+ years...your GC and CF are likely responsible for your turbidity issues. You should consider draining the pond low, seining, and removing GC and CF unless you want to restart completely to resolve turbidity.

Can 2 grass carp really do that much damage? Not tryin to question you just curious. Not sure what CF are its not on the list. Do you mean catfish? I plan on removing them this summer (fish fry anyone).

RS I don't know how long GC can live, but yours are surely undergrown.
I put mine in June 2013 and they were 1 foot long. By spring of last year, they were over 3 feet long and 25 pounds heavy.
Do you have little vegetation they can feed on?
Be careful because if you have steep banks, when they can't find food around the pond, they start digging the banks with their snouts in search of roots and this causes a slow and dangerous collapse of the banks.

Bingo I have very little for them to eat. I have steep and not steep banks. I never figured 2 fish would do so much harm. Hey I have been wrong on lots of things this is just adding to the list.

RS I ve put them (20 GC in a 1 acre pond) only because I have almost all the banks covered of Phragmites palustris, sprouting everywhere.
GC, despite being so many, can barely keep it under control.
A friend of mine put them in his pond (very steep banks and very little vegetation) and now the banks are collapsing due to the CG digging in the mud looking for food. But he put a lot of GC too.
Maybe only 2 won't cause any disaster but...keep an eye on them.

My kids like bow fishing. I know they can hit a target that big. Prolly better safe than sorry and just take them out.

I put in 10 GC in my 3 acre pond about 3 months ago. My pond was completely overgrown with coontail. Now it's completely clear. I was worried that I overstocked GC but when I cast out my lines I still get coontail caught in it so I guess that means there's still some good stuff for them to eat and they haven't devoured all of it yet. Also the water is very clear so I havent noticed any turbidity caused by the GC

Last spring it was recommended that I add 15 Gp in the five yr old 3+acre pond. I added 10 and hoping that is still not too many. I have not seen much of a dent in the Bushy Pondweed. And hoping they don't eat all my APW that I like having. They say that both plant types are preferred by the Gp.

platon20, are you sure it was coontail, and not another plaint like Southern Naiad or Chara? I've never heard of GC clearing up coontail that fast. I'm not questioning what happened, just curious more than anything else.

Sorry I should have been more clear. Yes it was definitely coontail but it wasn't just the GC that helped clear it up, I also used some Mizzen Copper Algaecide.