Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations What to do with fish carcasses after harvesting ?

I plan on consistently harvesting fish from my yet to be dug pond, what is done with the fish carcasses and entrails?
Can this be made into fish food someway?, Perhaps dog treats of some kind?
I’m not really interested in making a fish stock with this waste, and I can’t put it in my garden because bears and cats will show up.
When I lived in Key West they would just toss the fish remains into the water where it would be gulped up by Tarpon or nurse shark before it even hit the water.
It seems like a resource, but I just can’t see it.

In the warmer months, you could use what's called a "Rot Basket" where you put the carcasses in a wire basket suspended over the water. Maggots start to grow on the carcasses, and then fall in the water where other fish eat the maggots.

Biggest downside is foul odors, so try and place the basked downwind if possible.

I wouldn't want to just throw the carcasses in the water as you may not have the species of fish that will consume them. Turtles may eat them.

I'd just dump them in a far corner of the property and let the clean up crew do their thing. I don't know how you'd grind up the bones so they wouldn't cause problems for the dogs.

I just throw mine in the trash for pick up Monday morning.

Coons and possums eat ours overnight nothing left, sometimes buzzards will get some

Guess I wouldn’t mind Coons and possums, but there are black bears where am at.
Maybe it’ll have to be buried every time.

I dump them in the creek down the road. I'm not a fan of trash pandas so no rewards for them.

Yep!

If mine ate fish guts all summer, and deer corn all winter, I think I could support a population of hundreds/acre.

Who wants that many trash pandas!

We have plenty (100s) of masked bandits here if anyone wants them…….

If you develop an export market, I will gladly give you 10% of the profits from my masked bandits sales!

Kind of depends on how many fish we clean and what kind.

If just cleaning a few BG, like say 25, will cut the heads off after filleting and toss the carcass and head into our main pond. We have lots of CC and they clean them up. When we clean CC or if we have a big number of BG or other fish to clean we take them down to the pasture and let the wildlife clean them up. The larger heads and carcass of the CC I was always afraid might not be completely cleaned up and foul the water.

Not saying that is the right way but the way we do it. In the early years of the pond when we did not have the CC population and size we have now I would always take it to the pasture. If we only had LMB and BG not sure I would put much back into the water. With the CC size and population we have I do not worry about it much.

I wonder if anybody grinds them up & freeze dries them for fish food. Of course, my dad used to bury BG carcasses in the garden with good results...until a dog got in under the fence.

I suppose one way to look at it is that anything we take out of the pond (harvesting fish) reduces nutrient load and any feed we put back in (pelleted feed or fish guts) increases nutrient load. So looking at it that way a person might decide to do with fish cleanings depending on if they had or didn't have a nutrient load problem.

It's really only the guts and tails one has to worry about - the heads are no trouble.

Fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccino in Italian restarants with oriental women.

I chuck my fish dregs into my bait pond. I don't have any catfish in there, but there are plenty 'nuff crayfish to clean up a big mess.

Gators will eat them, though they much prefer marshmallows. Discovered the surprising reptilian sweet tooth years ago!

That’s what I was thinking.

They make excellent garden fertilizer. Bury it in garden soil or compost for next year. The nutrients and bones replace minerals in soils that are beneficial to growth.

Got any neighbors that you don’t care for?