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I would say that is capillary action wicking the water from the pond up the bank. Shouldn't be a problem.


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Are all those shoreline rocks supposed to be underwater? is the high water mark the top of the wet dirt area? I would put a stake in the water with tape at the water line and monitor how fast the water level is going down. How old is the pond again?. Water normally wicks upward from the waterline. Was the entire pond basin compacted with a sheepsfoot roller? A bulldozer is not a soil packing machine which is why road building crews use special compaction devices to make road beds and to stabilize, compact soil for construction projects. In hot sunshine midsummer a pond can lose 1/2" of water per day. Faster than that there is a leak. All ponds without a membrane liner leak. The amount of leakage is the test how well the pond was built.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 07/30/20 02:46 PM.

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We put the rocks around where we thought the shoreline was going to be. I will post another picture showing the true shoreline once the pond was full. These rocks were dug up when they cleared land for the house and I wanted to use them because they were unique. May not have been the best choice, but they are mine. lol

I have one rock that I have kept my eye on for water evaporation, but I will put a flag out. That's a good idea.

[img]https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=16426&filename=pond3.jpg.png

Last edited by Chandler1; 07/30/20 03:15 PM.
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Bill, the pond has a clay bottom and is not lined. It was dug out and built by my husband's cousin, who has an excavation company. He built to allow for runoff from neighbor's yard and to protect from flooding our yard. He packed it the best he could with the equipment he had. You can tell in the picture that by the time the water got to the rocks on the right (which is where he designed the spillway), the pond had to be considered full. That being said, there has not been much change on the waterline near the rocks on the right, which is good, I guess? I put a flag there just now to keep track.

I suppose this changes the calculations of how big the pond is and the water volume. It should still be 8 ft deep in the middle.

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The HBG are robust and grow quickly. Here's my progress over the last year. After reading this thread, anyone know where I can find trout in North Texas?

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Chandler in a private message asks:
“ “I would love to introduce bass only, but I need to know how to feed them. You say they will eat their own fry, but what if there is no fry in the beginning. I have pellets. Is that enough?””
Note – This pondowner has already stocked fathead minnows so small minnows are available. YES - high protein pellets are enough if the bass are pellet trained direct from the fish farm otherwise, if they(LMB) do not eat pellets, by themselves in a pond results in them staying around 9”-13” long. Bass as predators need lots of food to grow – 10 lb of live food per fish is needed to gain a pound. YES for eating primarily pellets applies more as a YES with HSB compared to LMB. See below for more info about pellet trained LMbass.

Or
“Can I have bluegill and bass?”
“I was thinking 15-20 bass and 50 bluegill.” A prey predator ratio of 1:3.
“My grandchildren would get a bang out of catching the bluegill.”

ANSWERS

First the fish density - He is thinking of adding 15 LMB and 50 BG = 1:3.3
One bass to 2.5 or 3.3 BG. In a 50ftX55ft which is 0.06 ac, this equates to 240 bass/ac and 800 BG/ac. This is way too many stocker fish in a tiny pond. Way fish over crowded for healthy water and healthy fish. Current most common stocking guidelines are 100 LMB and 500BG / acre. Thus the 240LMB to 800BG is way too many fish for 2700ft2. Maybe not too many initially as fingerlings, but as soon as the fish are 1 yr old problems are very likely to begin. If these all these fish are fed pellets there will soon be water quality problems and likely fish deaths from too much fish biomass for the limited water volume. Your grandkids will not get much of a ‘bang’ from seeing lots of dead fish. Quality fish balance based on size of pond is much more important than having lots of fish.
Pellet trained bass can exist on a primary diet of pellets providing the pellets have high protein and nutrient balance, at least 40% protein. Free ranging bass only eating pellets will get an added low amount of nutrition from the small amount of natural foods they find in the pond.
Mixing BG and LMB In A Tiny Pond, This is the traditioinal pond stocker fish combination. However in a pond less than 0.2 ac (many say one acre), it becomes a difficult time especially long term when managing the reproduction from both BG & LMB and keeping a balance where both species grow well and are angler quality. A pretty difficult feat in a tinypond. Fish balance with growth is hard to achieve without lots of frequent management effort and then 1 or 2 bass would not be much bigger than 2 maybe 2 lbs – 14”-15” and the remainder mostly 8”-12”. One specie of the BG-LMB very often tends to overpopulate for one reason or another which often happens in many ponds even larger ponds. However the smaller the pond is, the more prone it will have an overpopulation of the BG or the LMB. This also tends to be true with most of the other common sportfish combos used in tiny ponds. This is why catfish only is often used as the main fish for small ponds. However even catfish can reproduce in a pond and overpopulate when adequate predators are not present or adequate harvest does not happen.

The other problem with the BG-LMB small pond combo is if the LMB original stockers are pellet trained, most of their offspring will NOT eat pellets. Thus the majority of these bass offspring grow very slowly and top out at around 11”-12” due to lack of food and crowding for space and food. After your original stocker larger pellet eating bass die, you have slim chances of getting LMB bigger than 10”-12” because the LMB usually will keep reproducing, and then tend to become crowded, overpopulate and over eat the food source. When overcrowded they over eat the small BG. As the biggest oldest BG begin to gradually die from old age, you eventually have no or too few BG and overcrowded small bass. This is a management dilemma and problems to deal with providing if you want quality size fish especially if one wants larger sized fish. Growing larger fish in a mini-pond is a special management situation that IMO requires a unique stocker fish combination and good management.

Bottom Line. The BG-LMB combination is a very difficult for one to be successful in a small pond unless special management is used or you are satisfied with numerous small fish.

Some on the Forum have used the redear sunfish(RES) as a panfish. They reproduce sparingly although they, direct from the fish farm, are not pellet trained. Plus they are hard to pellet train. Often RES do not grow fast when proper foods are not present. RES as the main forage fish do not reproduce enough for bass to grow over 12”-13”. It is often said on the Forum that RES do not overpopulate and stunt. RES overpopulating is rare, but I have seen it happen. Anglers say they (RES) are fairly difficult to catch which makes them a poor choice for young anglers.
The best plan IMO for the small pond to have primarily larger sized fish is to not use fish that can cause overpopulation problems which means all they basically do is grow if they have enough food. One should think of finding and using sport fish that will not reproduce or don’t reproduce. The other key to success of big fish in a small pond is to stock fish that grow well on pellets thus you do not have to rely on small fish to feed the predators to make them grow big. Limited or stable numbers, feed quality pellets, and watch them grow.

If one is really serious about having catchable edible panfish and some larger quality predators in the mini-pond, I refer back to my earlier post. For panfish use tilapia (TP) and predators use hybrid striped bass HSB.
Tilapia are available in larger sizes. 6"-7" stocker tilapia can grow to 12-15" by late summer in Texas. Big panfish indeed! They readily eat pellets and grow faster than any other panfish 2” per month. The bigger the stocker size the faster they are ready for exciting the anglers. A 14" tilapia fights as hard as a 14" LMB. They are very hard fighters for their size. Plus they eat your algae problems and you can later eat them; a win, win. You never have to worry about overpopulation because they all die every late fall with water drops to 50F, They need to be replaced each spring but this is a low, well money very spent cost compared to ALL the great benefits they provide based on goals of quality fish for the mini-pond. Great panfish for a low maintenance mini-pond.

For the large fish use hybrid striped HSB. They do not reproduce in ponds - so no overpopulation problems. Put and take as needed. They eat pellets very aggressively with lots of surface splashing. They grow fast and big, plus pull on the fish pole like a race car.

Both of these pellet eating specialty fish can be readily caught by anglers using highly flavorful artificial fish pellets. The best brand is from Stubby Steve.


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I think trout in fall are available in northern Texas from Overton's Fish Hatchery also known as Overton Fisheries. this is one of the best places to buy your Texas fish. They have a great reputation, are very customer friendly, helpful, and have very high quality fish, and a good supporter of the Pond Boss family. They have a very informative website. Check them out.
https://overtonfisheries.com/

Last edited by Bill Cody; 07/31/20 09:21 PM.

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Bill said it all.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Ok. I will go with HSB in September. I want them to be big enough to put a rod out so how many and how big? The number of fish is not as important as the size of fish.

When you mentioned tilapia, were you mentioning that as a choice for "tilapia only" situation? So you mean that if I did not go with HSB, I could go with tilapia. Is that what you mean? If I did go with tilapia, would I put them in now or wait until September? It seems if I wait until September, I wouldn't have much time before they die. Would I put some in now and then introduce HSB in September?

I know I sound confused when Bill is educating not just me, but other readers.

So Bill, I want to go with your suggestion.

1. Is it HSB in September ONLY? What size and how many?
2. Is it tilapia now (size and number) and add HSB in September (size and number)?

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HSB in September or October or Spring - any size when stocking a new pond with no predtors. Often the larger HSB are mostly available in Fall. The larger ones you are able to stock the faster they grow to catchable or angler preferred size. BE sure to buy a small amount 5-8 lbs of the SAME fish food that the Fish Farm is using to feed the HSB. They should be willing to sell a small amount as in a few pounds to use until the HSB grow to eat large pellets which will be one year later. Try hard not to buy a whole big bag of fish food for your small pond. It will go bad, mold and loose nutrition before you are able to use the whole bag. Plus larger or bigger HSB (12"+) do not do well when eating tiny 1/16" or 1/8" pellets.

Tilapia are stocked primarily in Spring as soon as the water temperature stabilizes at 68F-70F. Try to buy ones at least 5" and better 6"-8" long. Tilapia can be used as the only fish or they work very well when combined with HSB and most other fish species. Both species will be a very good fun combination for your small pond. Give me a day or two to find time to create a discussion for a couple stocking number / densities. I will return soon. All these posts take time to create when details are provided. .

Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/01/20 11:19 AM.

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So my plan now is to wait until September and try to get HSB.

Should we install a bubbler before we stock the fish? Originally I was told that new ponds had enough oxygen for awhile, but if we need to do it sooner rather than later, then what kind and what size?

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I wouldn't stock fish if the water is over about 75 to 80 degrees.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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I will buy a pond thermometer

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Yes Davidson1 has good advice for stocking TX ponds wait until the water is 70-75F all fish will have better survival. Your killing the fatheads a week ot two ago is good testimony for what he is saying. Heed the good experienced Texas advice.


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I will listen. And pray for an early fall. lol

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All of a sudden, the pond is covered with green algae. I may have been feeding the minnows too much? I feed about 1/'2 or a little more a day. I read some posts on algae and have ordered Cutrine-Plus. How long do I have to feed minnows?

Is there a thread that covers treatment for my mini pond?

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I know it was suggested new ponds usually have enough oxygen in the beginning, but we have decided to go ahead and aerate the pond. I really need help knowing what to buy. Do I just take the recommendation from the sales person based on pond size and potential water volume? We want to buy a bubbler.

Last edited by Chandler1; 08/02/20 04:20 PM.
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Adding air now will help you get used to it, understand it, and get it set up right where you want...before you need it. It has taken me almost 3 years to get a good grip on what my aeration system does to my pond. So, getting it going now will, not only be exciting, but allow you to experiment before it is actually critical.

Forgive me for not reading back through the thread entirely, but....

Did you ever estimate how many gallons it contains?

What type and brand of diffusers are you looking at buying?

I will assume that you will only be aerating at night during the summer months which means the system has to do its job in much less time. This means a larger system than a generic sales chart will suggest.

We will also need to know what depths you plan to put the diffusers in and how many. I suspect 1 or 2 diffusers will be enough....your thoughts and desires? The more diffusers, the better the surface conditions (if needed) and the bigger the pump will need to be.


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The pond is basically round. Now that it's full, I would say it is 48 ft x 48 ft and 8 ft deep in the center. We want a bubbler.

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Get three estimates from good aerator people one of them Vertex. Watch for cfm (air volume) of the compressor. The more air the larger the diffuser and quicker it can turnover the pond. If the pond stays reasonably clear you would not have to run the aerator 24/7. A good aerator should easily mix one pond turnover in 1-2 hrs. Then run it twice a day turning it over twice a day.

An aerator will not eliminate the green string algae as you will learn. Cut back on feeding the minnows. maybe 1/4 cup a day or just 3 days a week.

Now saying 48x48 is 2300 sqft if pond is square 0.05ac ave depth 4ft = 65000 gallons ; And a round pond at dia 48ft is 1800 sqft. = 0.04ac = 53000 gallons.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/03/20 09:42 PM.

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I bought this aerator kit on Amazon a month and a half ago. About $400 and makes a lot of bubbles. Says its only good for 7 feet deep though. I'm about 5.5 feet deep and it works great. EasyPro PA6SWN Single Diffuser Shallow Pond Aeration Kit .

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This is a fish stocking follow up for Chandlers tiny new pond.
Chandler asks
“Can I have bluegill and bass?”
“I was thinking 15-20 bass and 50 bluegill
ANSWERS
First the fish density - He is thinking of adding 15 LMB and 50 BG = pretator to prey ratio 1:3.3. The common ratio is 1:20 or greater for good fish balance and growth.
I discussed the option of fish density and the BG-LMB combo in an above post. Now I want to discuss fish density also known as fish number per acre or carrying capacity. There is a very good thread and informative and educational discussion about Carrying Capacity in the Common Pond Q&A (archives) Pond Boss Forum. It is well worth ones time to read it.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92440#Post92440

Ponds and farm ground have what is called carrying capacity or production amount. This is the natural ability of the area or size to grow or produce a certain or determinate amount of pounds per acre.The limit is based on soil fertility. This is all based on available nutrients in the ground or pond. Fertility can be measured by testing the amount of nutrients in the water or soil. Generally the more fertile it is the more nutrients that are present in the water/soil, the more crop it can grow per acre.

In water and soil, the ability to NATURALLY grow fish or a crop is basically based on the how available the nutrients are for use by the plants / plankton the base of the food chain. Not all nutrients present are readily available for use by plants. . To make the nutrients most usable by the plants, lime (alkalinity, pH ) needs to be at least a minimum concentration for allowing optimum plant growth.
In ponds and for grazers on the farm we can bypass the need to grow plants as food for the bottom of the food chain and just feed the animals some external food material, In our case fish, we use a high quality, high protein prepared food and this becomes simple farming of fish or animals.

For Chandler’s tiny pond it’s final size is 48x48 is around 2300 sqft or 0.05 ac. He says it is more round than square so maybe in reality it is 1800 sqft (0.04ac) as in the area of a 48ft diameter circular pond.

Stocking this tiny pond for some sort of maintained balance will be a real challenge.

Fertile limestone based soil ponds can generally produce food for growing up to 300lbs of all the sizes of fish at carrying capacity. With good aeration and pellet feeding the fish, poundage can be boosted to 800 to 1000lbs of fish PER ACRE. The higher the fish poundage per acre the more water quality problems will occur and the greater chance there is of a fish kill. Be prepared physically and mentally for this sad day. The most prominent indicator of this happening is the fish will stop feeding on the pellets. Then expect to start seeing stressed fish, then dying fish.

For chandler’s tiny pond, let’s assume maximum poundage of 1000lbs/ac if there is good, careful management. Pond is 0.04 to 0.05 ac X 1000lbs/ac = 40 to 50 lbs of total fish maximum. KEEP IN MIND THAT THE 1000 lbs/ac IS A HIGH POUNDAGE OF FISH FOR ANY SIZE OF POND. Risky business indeed and with this type of fish density a fish kill is always imminent. Those professionals with good experience and preparedness can regularly maintain the 1000lbs and greater high fish densities.

Fish community in small ponds I think is best served with fish that do not reproduce with the exception of using tilapia and maybe minnows or some sort of small forage fish. Reproducing most used larger fish are always increasing their numbers to OVERLOAD the carrying capacity or upsetting the balance of predator prey ratio to the point the results are often poorer growth of fish. Fish overload also trends toward more commonly occurring ill or sick fish, lower water quality, and more algae problems. All often occur together. Always remember - lower fish density and lower carrying capacities always result in overall better pond conditions including the fish.

When using tilapia, pond predators will utilize for growth some of the young-of-year tilapia. Winter water temperatures kills all tilapia and restarts and renews the fishery by annually reducing the total fish poundage. The next years tilapia numbers stocked can be adjusted based on last year’s results.
Stocking of fish numbers can vary based on the fish species used and ones goals. Chandler desires some nice, fun sized predators and good panfishing results for the grandkids. The tilapia and HSB are an excellent fish combo for these goals.

For this tiny 1800 to 2000sqft pond, I would start with 10 HSB and 12 to15 tilapia.
Here are my calculated fish weights for HSB each year when the initial HSB grow to 23-24 inches after 4 years. For tilapia in Texas, I use 14” (1.8lb) as a final end of year size. When do you ever catch a 13”-14” bluegill? So being able to annually catch a 13”-14” trophy bluegill sized tilapia is a real treat.
Plan to have a few HSB die each year due to angler caused deaths. Also realize an oxygen sag due to an over enriched, over capacity pond will first cause death to HSB. Tilapia are pretty tolerant of low DO so they die later if low DO persists.

Year 1 10 @ HSB 12” = 8.7 lbs + 15 tilapia 27lbs = 35.7lbs. A safe capacity
Year 2 10 @ HSB 16” = 21.0 lbs + 15 tilapia 27lbs = 48.0 lbs At capacity
Year 3 8 @ HSB 20” = 34.4lbs + 10 tilapia 18lbs = 52.4 lbs. Over capacity
Year 4 6 @ HSB 23”(6.5lbs) = 39lbs + 8 tilapia 14.4lbs= 53.4lbs. Over capacity.
Year 5 better think about harvesting all HSB and restarting. Fewer HSB to catch, smarter hook shy HSB and less chance to catch them.

Commentary Note. Keep in mind my suggestions above produce a risky high carrying capacity and a good chance of a fish kill if all things do not happen correctly. There is quite a bit of chance for error with this plan.

Fish at this density in small water have to be regularly fed to keep them growing well because this small of a pond cannot produce enough natural foods to feed this capacity of fish. High food inputs, gradually over time increase the biochemical oxygen demand of the pond.

The good thing about this plan is the pond is new and the annual Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is the lowest it will be in a new low organics accumulated pond. As organics from internal and external sources accumulate, the annual BOD increases with pond age. Aging ponds have greater chances of fish kills for various reasons but mostly from low dissolved oxygen conditions due to the overall high BOD. BOD can vary throughout the year depending on conditions.
If you want to test this fish growing plan with less chance of having a fish kill, then reduce the fish density by any percentage. The lower the fish capacity the less chance there will be of a fish kill and the better the water quality.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/13/20 07:25 PM.

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Thanks, Bill, for the thorough explanation with concrete examples of carrying capacity and its relationship to keeping a small pond successful.

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Thank you, Bill! I will wait until cooler weather before I decide ratio. Are HSB snd tilapia easy to get in this part of Texas?

Btw, the pond is doing well and minnows thriving on the fish food. I’m glad I didn’t put any fish in yet. It is supposed to reach 106 degrees this afternoon.

Last edited by Chandler1; 08/14/20 08:41 AM.
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For the best fish go to Overton Fisheries about 1 hr southeast of Dallas on I45 to Buffalo TX. They will do the best for your needs of HSB and tilapia. Check with them when they have the larger 'advanced' sized HSB (maybe 8"-10") available which is probably in March-April which would be a very good time to stock both HSB and tilapia together. Tell them Bill Cody from Pond Boss sent you to them. You will be well treated. Be sure to get about 15-20 lbs of the appropriate sized feed for the HSB while there. Tell them you have a tiny mini-pond and do not need a whole 40or50 lb bag of pellets. It will take you too long to use it up before is starts to go "bad". Try not to hold pellets longer than 10-12 months. The advanced size HSB stocked in spring will have benefits for you: 1. they are very pellet habituated better than smaller fish, 2. they will be fun to catch right away, 3. you gain one year of growth using larger ones, 4. You don't need a lot of them so cost is still relatively low. 5. HSB and tilapia together will be a very good start for your mini-pond, and fishes can be very easily be changed if you don't like the results. This is not true with BG - LMB. KEEP US UPDATED AS TO YOUR PONDS PROGRESS SO OTHERS CAN SEE IF I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!

Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/14/20 08:26 PM.

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by Sunil - 03/28/24 12:39 PM
New 2 acre pond stocking plan
by Sunil - 03/28/24 12:39 PM
1 year after stocking question
by esshup - 03/28/24 11:01 AM
Paper-shell crayfish and Japanese snails
by esshup - 03/28/24 10:39 AM
Brooder Shiners and Fry, What to do??
by Freg - 03/28/24 09:42 AM
Relative weight charts in Excel ? Calculations?
by esshup - 03/28/24 08:36 AM
Dewatering bags seeded to form berms?
by Justin W - 03/28/24 08:19 AM
Reducing fish biomass
by FishinRod - 03/28/24 08:18 AM
Questions and Feedback on SMB
by Donatello - 03/27/24 03:10 PM
2024 North Texas Optimal BG food Group Buy
by Dave Davidson1 - 03/27/24 08:15 AM
Freeze Danger? - Electric Diaphragm Pump
by esshup - 03/26/24 09:47 PM
Newly Uploaded Images
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
by Tbar, December 10
Deer at Theo's 2023
Deer at Theo's 2023
by Theo Gallus, November 13
Minnow identification
Minnow identification
by Mike Troyer, October 6
Sharing the Food
Sharing the Food
by FishinRod, September 9
Nice BGxRES
Nice BGxRES
by Theo Gallus, July 28
Snake Identification
Snake Identification
by Rangersedge, July 12

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