Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Perch or minnow fry?

Need help identifying what I've got here in my pond.
Aug 20.
I've got a 1/3 acre pond with approx. 300 perch and a dozen bass.
Also stocked several thousand fat head and shiner minnows.

I've attached 2 pictures. I'll try to attach a video link if needed to help identify these fry.

Hoping someone can tell me if i have baby perch or if they're just minnows.
The larger fry are about an inch long. The smaller ones are 1/2 or 1/4 inch long.



Thank You.

Catch some, put them in a zip loc bag and then take a good picture showing the full side of the fish.

Yes we need better pictures of some of the larger ones confined in a small amount of water in a plastic zip snack bag. From the initial pics and video my best guess is they are larger young of year(YOY) shiners, however no money on that bet. For sure the smaller 3/8"-1/2" ones are minnow/shiner. In the video,, I think the fish swim more like young shiners than yellow perch.

When did you see and what dates for the YP eggs this spring??? Are you feeding the small fish crushed pellets? You can add food around and in a small mesh net,,,,, be patient, and lift the net when fish are in it. The bigger the net the better this will work. I doubt that you have a 1/8" mesh minnow trap which you should have if you are regularly wanting to know who 1" minnows are? They make 1/8" mesh drop nets that when baited work pretty good for catching small fish. I have bought special custom made 1/16" mesh drop/umbrella drop nets from Douglas Nets; tell them BillCody referred you to them. You will get good service from them.

They look like minnows to me. Swim/school like half grown minnows.
I've got shinners and perch but they haven't spawned yet...new pond.

I get minnow fry "blooms" where there are football sized clouds of them all along the shoreline, this time of year I have the clouds and out in deeper water minnows from grain of rice size to 3/4 of an inch...bazillions of them.
When I feed it's a free for all...my perch dart right up and back down to get at the feed (although I would think they would be stuffed full of little minnows).

My money's on it being too late in the year for YOY YP to be that small, even for a near-Yooper.

I see GAMs swarming like that peaking around July Early August each year where plants provide good habitat. What species do you have?

Where minnows congregate near the surface, watch for minnow sprays as they leap from the water to evade predators. For YP predation this may be more focused during low light.

Welcome to another MI pond owner!! Exciting to hear about ponds in the 'true north!'

I doubt gams are there since they would not overwinter in a northern MI pond

Their body shape in the still pictures look like 'shiner' but that is a broad category still. If the only shiners in there are ones you put in then you would know already what kind they are (GSH) Trap some and put in a white dish or in a clear bag with water and get better pictures. I see only positives to having clouds of shiners except for the issue of balance where too many shiners can inhibit recruitment of YP as they eat all the swim up fry before they get a chance to grow up. You have LMB to help keep the GSH in balance though.

YP young are that size by May and much bigger by August. It would be interesting if you can join us each spring when we all post when we see YP minnows and figure out what day of the year, what your water temps are, and whether they lay eggs on certain structure or bottom substrate as a preferred egg strand laying area. also if the S or SW corner of your pond is where the strands are laid first. The 2022 YP egg watch thread will likely pop up somewhere around March 10 or so and first egg strands forum wide I think are around March 12?

I think your pictures are of minnows and shiners. The fish in the video do not swim the same way as 1"-2" YP.

Agree with Cody..