Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Establishing mayflies in pond

I would bring water but be careful of any regs for the state. You might season your tap water for this purpose. Whatever mayflies you have, most will put eggs back into your pond ... except for those that fly to your neighbors lights ... lol! This attraction to lights ... don't know what it is but a friend of mine thinks that they cue on the moons reflection to find water to lay eggs in. I don't know and I just can't venture a guess. Each Momma Hexagenia can produce around 8000 eggs, and so enough will succeed to lay eggs to have a crop the following year. I wonder if it would be a good idea to hang light over the pond's surface to get them into the water?

So you will be collecting just the eggs at the lake. As they accumulate in your tub, you can remove the spinners (spent mayflies) as they will have already released eggs. You can speed up their egg laying by getting them out or sorts in the surface film. As soon as the begin to struggle, they will release eggs. When you get back home just distribute the eggs into your pond. As long as you have a good bottom for them to burrow in that is free of plants they should grow and produce a hatch next year.

Mayflies tend to lay in the water they hatched from. Storms and high winds can move them around. They are drawn by light away from water too. So its certainly possible you will receive mated mayflies that lay in your pond. Usually these are the generalist mayflies that are small and live in small creeks and small bodies of water. Just keep in mind, they live for just a day after mating and this is their window for laying eggs. The link above is for hexes specifically but the techniques may be useful for other mayflies too.