Chad I think PK could make it [aside from your DO issues] - we have no issues in NE and our water gets just as cold as yours, our season is just shorter. One variable might be your pond being devoid of macrophytes for longer periods so they may be more vulnerable to predation than they are here - but I don't think the cold itself would impact their survival. I think scuds could also be great in your pond. Dr Dave Willis told me once that Devil's Lake is supported entirely by scuds - no smelt, shad, alewife or other forage fish present. That really blew my mind considering the quantity and size of the YP, SMB, WE, NP etc. that exist in that fishery - but you know, Dr. Willis was a great teacher and related lots of those cool facts to us.
So...I think it would be worth trying both scuds and PK Shrimp. If you drive through NE this year let me know a few weeks in advance and I'll do my damnedest to collect some for you on your way out West.
Scuds are pretty much ubiquitous in high mountain lakes and streams. I would be very surprised if his lake didn't have them.
It still remains unclear to me whether PK shrimp would thrive there. The growing season is shorter and the water temps don't get as high. The conditions favor scuds and that is why I think they are already there. The introduction of PK shrimp in this biome constitutes an experiment that isn't founded on the best reasons.
Many good intentions have played out through the past with many, many examples of unintended consequences. There seems to be two outcomes with most introductions of species in non-native habitats. Either the introduction falls flat on its face and fails in which case the hypothesis driving the introduction is falsified. Or the introduction succeeds beyond all expectations and consequences develop that are not desired nor beneficial to the community of organisms ... in which case the hypothesis is falsified. There are few cases, if any, where the full cascading outcome was foreseeable and predictable (although perhaps failure to thrive may have been predictable in some cases).
There is a curiosity that I most certainly have about this experiment. I would like to know its outcome and I have nothing to lose in watching it play out. For all the reasons I have mentioned, I wouldn't recommend it but its a choice that ultimately falls on the owner.
