I'm in midwest ohio and I'm looking to purchase other minnows other than just fatheads. I'm trying to put together a forage base that may survive and sustain themselves in my future HSB, YP, RES pond. I'm willing to be patient and really get a good forage base going. I've heard good things about mosquito fish, but less good things about GSH? Only things I can find locally are FHM and GSH, anyone have any recommendations near me?
Your in spotfin and bluntnose country.
https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=520https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=620Gams are a naturalized invasive according to NAS but I do wonder if their judgment is correct. I would think they would be native in any watershed flowing into the Ohio River. Whatever the case, you may want to see if Ohio has any restrictions for stocking or transporting them. If allowed they would be a good addition. Augie's mention of how a few become thousands has been my experience too. They are prolific but do not attain high standing weights (maybe 60 to 80 lbs/acre generally when they are in good numbers). But don't let this fool you. They reproduce all Summer long and individuals less 1" in length grow by more then 10% of body weight each day. So 60 lbs could stand 6 lbs of cropping each day and maintain their standing weight. That's more than twice the dry weight protein people typically feed when having a feed regimen. So they really good for fish that make use of small minnows. I see fish taking Gams where up to several times a minute I see a spray of minnows trying to evade predators. If you have pond weeds in the margins they will do much better.
https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=846
