ESSHUP you are correct, but until I got some of the basics from the reading I probably didn't know where to start a plan... My pond has proven that it has the basics to sustain a fish population, but I lacked some of the management tools to know how to make it better... I think I look forward to trying some of the principals like fertilization for plant control and fish growth, also I'm concerned about getting my predator numbers right to start with, it seems like a lot of hungry mouths to add to a small pond, but seeing how hard it is to fix the problem, it looks like you need to make sure you get enough to start with... Also the reading helped me to see things that I let happen that affected my ponds health and i didn't realize it. For instance when i had the die off and lost my bass predators, then the crappie became the main predator and over populated, then the carp got to a high enough number that they stirred up the sediment so much it shaded the pond so the weeds and phytoplankton decreased, that caused a severe malnutrition among the fish.... Had I known some of the things I just learned I could have tried some things to bring the pond back... Anyway I'm really glad to have the restart from the drought so hopefully it won't be as hard to correct some of the big issues (like carp)... I'm sure I'll make new mistakes, but will be a fun learning experience... Later J
