KRM says ".... how well attempts at stocking paddlefish (PF) in Ohio or the Midwest actually worked?" Do you have a goal for stocking them? What do you mean by " how well stocking worked" ?? What do you expect them to do as a management tool besides survive and grow large - anything else? Normal stocking should "work" well, but survival maybe would not succeed or be successful?
Paddlefish are filter feeders straining the larger sized zooplankton mostly Cladocerans and probably some of the larger Cyclops-like individuals for food from the water column. Food sizes are usually larger than 1/4mm (250um); detritus has been found as abundant in their gut. . Most of the other zooplankton pass through the gill rakers and are not collected. I think most of the currently available farm sold paddlefish are raised on fish pellets so one should see the paddlefish coming to the surface for floating pellets assuming the PF remain eating fish pellets. There is an article about paddlefish in the Sept-Oct 202 0 Pond Boss magazine about paddlefish.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 09/26/20 07:46 PM. Reason: enhancements
