Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Zooplankton?

Would these be worth adding to a pond? Just wondering because its been three years and our water seems quiet I would say. If we were to fill up a clear glass theres not much in it.

Cheers Don.

I would not add those on the website as they claim they are tropical. I think you want zooplankton that are tolerant of cold water. Every pond that I have sampled that is not chemicalized regularly has a pretty healthly zooplankton community despite the water appearing clear in a jar. The clear water is one reason the water is clear due to the presence of filtering zooplankton. Another reason for clear water is lack of fertility. It is a niche - habitat - ecology thing. The composition of the zooplankton community is very often dependent on the plankton feeders in the pond. Heavy plankton feeders almost always heavily graze the larger individuals (species) that results in the community being composed of smaller sized individuals. Your strong population of shiners are significant grazers of larger zooplankton.

You know after I posted this I spent more time on their site and realized it was for salt water fish tanks. I see about 18"s deep in the water and it is a green/blue. Fish are very light in colour and that tells me they are not getting much sunlight.

Cheers Don.

I could sample your pond with a plankton net and you would be surprised at how many small zooplankton that I would catch. Most everyone is surprised and never thought those were in the pond. Most all of them are smaller than 1 to 1.5mm.