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#540013 09/24/21 12:52 PM
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Been thinking about changing the fish in my pond. As of now I have GSF, RES, HSB, KOI, 2 grass crap, LMB, few CC, Crappie, and various bucket stocks from friends. Was thinking i dont eat much fish and Father in law dont fish anymore. Basically i just feed them for my entertainment. I would like to keep the koi and HSB for sure. Would like to add a few of the largest predator non-reproducing fish that will live in SE kansas. My thoughts are mayb if I had just a few large ones they could fest on all my stunted LMB and crappie. Not sure what's all available but I thought it could be an interesting conversation if nothing else. Let's hear your thoughts and ideas. ¾ acre bout 12 or so feet deep. Half of the pond is 5 feet or less.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Rusto how bout some piranhas? That would liven things up a tad

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Ouch we have get togethers and always end up swimming. I better leave them further down south. But yes that would kick up the party to a 10 no a hurry. Lol


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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I forget how old your pond is…. My one year old LMB are 5-6” long on average I’m thinking. My BCP have not stunted as they are eaten by LMB. Catch very few of them now but not stunted . Rusto probably good to have a balanced pond instead of just a few large predators. But I’m not even able to keep a population of BCP going in 6 acres…..lol

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I'm not even sure what a balanced pond is. My preference would be non bites. Feed trainable would be preferred also. It's my nightly ritual to walk down to the pond with the mut and feed. After dark I walk around with a flashlight till I can find the largest koi. The other 3 I havnt spotted yet since I put them in. I didnt see my big koi 4 almost 2 years after I put it in. Wish I knew there sex. Really dont want any more than that. Just for the simple fact that they stir up the bottom muck.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Throw a Tiger Musky or two in there. Herman Brothers Pond Management in Peoria Illinois has them this Fall. You'd most likely have to drive to pick them up.


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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I thought these were known to bite people. If not and alot shorter drive or shipping I'm game.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Originally Posted by RStringer
I thought these were known to bite people. If not and alot shorter drive or shipping I'm game.

Only if you stick your hand in their mouth.


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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Rusto,

You like oddball fish, and I think you previously expressed a desire to have clearer water in your pond.

Have you considered a paddlefish?

They are native to Kansas in a river not too far from you. I believe they are suspension filter feeders. (I could easily be wrong on this - since their big paddle looks like it would be great at stirring up the bottom sediments and THEN feeding on the suspension.)

Someone recently posted a photo on Pond Boss of a paddlefish for sale at their fish supplier.

If you start researching them in a pond, you definitely need an expert opinion (rather than mine). The fish supplier that has them might be a good source of data for how they affect the ecology of a pond.

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Originally Posted by esshup
Originally Posted by RStringer
I thought these were known to bite people. If not and alot shorter drive or shipping I'm game.

Only if you stick your hand in their mouth.

"Stock tiger muskies!"

Otherwise known as:

Esshup's Teenage Boy Skinny Dipping Prevention Act!

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I have thought bout paddlefish. How do they do In ponds? Around here I only here bout them in the rivers. What do they eat?


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Rusto,

I don't know much at all about paddlefish.

I did find a fascinating article. Apparently they do thrive in ponds. And there is a fish supplier in Missouri that stocks them in people's ponds and then comes back a few years later to harvest the caviar.

It is Osage Catfisheries. I think their facility is located by the Lake of the Ozarks.

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g9470

P.S. Are you friends with Augie? I think he is located out that way. He might know something about that fishery.

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Paddlefish are filter feeders, so they will tend to reduce the amount of plankton (?) in the water; that plankton would be what newly born fry feed on.

So, that's just a consideration.


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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Originally Posted by FishinRod
Rusto,

I don't know much at all about paddlefish.

I did find a fascinating article. Apparently they do thrive in ponds. And there is a fish supplier in Missouri that stocks them in people's ponds and then comes back a few years later to harvest the caviar.

It is Osage Catfisheries. I think their facility is located by the Lake of the Ozarks.

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g9470

P.S. Are you friends with Augie? I think he is located out that way. He might know something about that fishery.

I am thinking that was the Mo Dept of Conservation that will stock spoonbill in your lake as long as they can come back and harvest them at some point for the eggs for hatching purposes I do believe, I am thinking it is illegal for an individual to sell the roe. I am not to sure tho. maybe if you raised them in your own pond it might be different.


All the really good ideas I've ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.
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I'm sure I wouldn't want enough of them for them to hassle with. But 2 or 3 would be cool to see from time to time.
Sunil just out of curiosity. Is there a way of adding plankton to the water somehow. I know it grows on its own but is there a way of spending it up or is that not advised. I really don't know much about it at all.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Rusto,

Read some of the fertilization threads if you want to start enhancing your pond from the bottom of the food chain on up.


P.S. I thought your pond looked pretty fertile when I saw it this summer!

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Was mainly for discussion purposes. But if I or someone else added paddlefish could they add to the plankton growth to help them. Also not take away from all the fries food.


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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The paddle fish feed mostly on the larger zooplankton such as crustaceans like Daphnia the 'water flea' types and not protozoans nor rotifers. Even some of the smaller crustaceans are not retained by the gill raker filters or food strainers of paddlefish. Some places that raise paddlefish train them to eat pellets!!.

All ponds, especially lower density fish ponds, will develop a large waxing and waning community of zooplankton. The amount and types of zooplankton present is primarily dependent on fertility of the pond and the type of filter feeders present, usually fish, that eat the larger zooplankton that would feed paddlefish. The more fish a pond has,,,,, generally the smaller the sizes and fewer of large zooplankton that are present. Swim-up fish fry usually first start eating some plankton algae, protozoans, rotifers and smallest crustaceans. Later they eat lots of larger zooplankton until most of the fingerling fish convert to eating larger invertebrates. If the pond contains lots of minnows and panfish, they usually keep the largest zooplankters well cropped and at low densities. Although good weed habitat can help serve as some refuge for larger zooplankton. If the pond receives routine algaecide treatments this has a big reduction influence on the types and sizes of zooplankton present. Algaecides do not just kill algae. Thus algaecide treatments can put varying limits on the zooplankton community.

IMO only certain ponds with strong, abundant zooplankton populations and lower small fish densities would be good candidates for paddlefish unless the paddle fish were pellet trained. Shad being mainly filter feeders eat lots of phytoplankton and zooplankton and as such keep the plankton well cropped. Good sport fishery ponds need good viable zooplankton populations to produce high quality fisheries. This is one reason that ponds are fertilized to produce abundant phytoplankton that feeds the crustacean zooplankton and invertebrate communities that are important to producing the overall fishery.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 11/23/21 08:51 PM.

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Our first paddlefish went from 18" to about 24" in 6 years, before an untimely death.

I suppose that's not a really great growth rate.


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
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I hand feed at least once a day during the warmer months. Soon as all of them shut off for the winter I quit feeding. Tht wud be cool 2 have a couple feed trained. I'm still surprised tht my grass crap never come up for pellets. Alot of people say they r pellet hogs. I have some stubborn ones I guess. Not really n it for the growth rate just want 2 see them. The HSB go crazy at feeding time also some panfish going at it also.

Last edited by RStringer; 11/22/21 11:30 AM. Reason: Bad language on my part

The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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The "i" is right next to the "u", isn't it.


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
-S. M. Stirling
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My sinecure apologies for my above failure. It has been corrected. Lol


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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Originally Posted by Theo Gallus
Our first paddlefish went from 18" to about 24" in 6 years, before an untimely death.

I suppose that's not a really great growth rate.

You have to hand feed with Daphnia 20x per day.

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Dang it Rod you always make me google something. Lol


The people who say I can't do it can just sit the @^#% down and watch me. Friends call me Rusto I also subscribe to pond boss mag. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=504716#Post504716
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I was just making a joke off of Bill Cody's excellent post above.

He gives you a lot of good information that will apply to your pond (even if you don't add paddlefish).

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