Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Do bass and blue gill eat creek chubs?

Hello,
We would appreciate some info regarding creek chubs and minnows. I believe we have both in our pond. There are schools of the above, which you can see when the water is clear. However, with all the recent heavy rain, our pond seems to have an algae bloom. Our main concern, is this: Will the bass and the bluegill be able to eat the creek chubs? We put the minnows in last year for forage food for the bass. The creek chubs were added the first year that we had the pond reconstructed. We managed to net only two of them the other day! One was a creek chub and the other a silver minnow. We only have a couple of bass, as the pond is not that large. There are also blue gill which have spawned last year, and also again this year. This is only our second year with fish in the pond. The bass do not look underfed. Our main concern is the creek chubs, which seem to multiply and a rapid rate. Thanks for any information anyone can give. Kay

Also, we have used Curtine Plus in the pond to clear the water. We notice that this seems to make the water sudsy. Or perhaps, it isn't from the Curtine? We would appreciate any information.

Kay, I do not have any experiance with the creek chubs, however, when I stocked my small pond here in Ohio I stocked a whole 3 bass, 20 hybrid gills and 5lbs of Fathead minnows. The first and second year the Fatheads seemed to over-populate the little waterhole. This is the third year for the pond and now I cannot keep enough fatheads in the little thing. I think if you sit tight the Bass will gobble em up. As far as the Curtin Plus, I stopped using it, it just makes matters worse. I aerate and use a benificial bacteria, I have had great results with this method. I like the idea of not dumping a bunch of chemicals in the water. Good luck.

Kay - I have a fair amount of experience with creek chubs. These fish can get 10" long and have large mouths for their size. Larger chubs readily eat small minnows/fish up to 1" - 1.25" long. Creek chubs rarely spawn in closed water ponds. I have never seen a pond with a population of reproducing creek chubs. Your stocked "chubs" will either get old and die out or become bass food. Bass readily consume chubs since they are slender bodied and soft rayed. Are you sure you have creek chubs?. I would like to see a specimen of what you are calling creek chub. Do you think the chubs are reproducing? I can send you a sample bottle and shipping box if you are able to catch them.

I do not know what a silver minnow is. Do you have another name for this fish? I can also identify this fish if I can get a preserved specimen.

With only two of the same sex bass in the pond, you may quickly get an overpopulation & stunting of bluegills, if you do not have a male and female bass. You should add sevaral more bass of similar size the the current two in the pond.
Adding too small of bass will increase their likelyhood of being eaten by the larger bass.

the shiny minnows were puchased from a bait store,and were so called golden shiners,but we did put hundreds of crick shubs in also.they look like small trout in a way but have a dark line running down the length of the fish.they seem to grow no larger than 5 inches .and are in most streams and creeks in oh.they seem to reproduce also in the spring because the pond is fed by the creek...

the shiny minnows were puchased from a bait store,and were so called golden shiners,but we did put hundreds of crick shubs in also.they look like small trout in a way but have a dark line running down the length of the fish.they seem to grow no larger than 5 inches .and are in most streams and creeks in oh.they seem to reproduce also in the spring because the pond is fed by the creek...

Kay - Where in Ohio are you located?

From your descriptions you likely have creek chubs. The creek chubs are no doubt spawning in the creek. The bait shop probably did have golden shiners that were farm raised and are used frequently as a bait fish in some areas.

With only a couple of bass in the pond you will probably see the chubs and shiners grow to larger sizes. If the largemouth bass spawn, the large number of subsequent generations of bass as older fish will prey heavily on the chubs and shiners and they may eventually eliminate the chubs and shiners. Bluegills will remain as the main forage items. Time will finish this story.

Thanks for the help Bill and Jab with creek chub and "minnow" issue. We live in a suburb about 18 miles south of Cleveland, OH. I was "down at the pond" today, and again observed the above. They seem to number in the thousands, and are always so hungry. The consume the Purina Fish Chow along with the B. Gills. While they were busy chowing down - I saw one of the bass just kind of swoop up these chubs and/or minnows. Hopefully, if the bass spawn, and perhaps they have; the chubs will be deleted from the pond menu. I will keep you posted.