Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction What did you do at your pond today?

FishinRod,
I don't think the poor recruitment is due to the eggs laying on the leaves. I see no problems with silting on the leaves although in theory the underside of the strand may not get as much water movement as when they were on the branches. In the past years we had great recruitment when laid everywhere but on the branches.

I think the poor recruitment is due to many of the eggs having white spots about a week after being laid. Bill C says these are unfertilized eggs. So it is the unmanly male YP that are not chasing down the females and using their shooter to shoot milt in all directions like they did before.
Either I have less males or my males ran out of male traits. I see about 50% of eggs showing white spots as a rough estimate.

It is interesting in my pond the YP can even appear to be 'cavity spawners' They have left egg strands in the cavity of the larger soft mesh minnow traps and some skeins where draped partially in and partially outside of the entrance hole. Some were in buckets that had blow in the pond, were on their side and half full of water. One was in a plastic folgers coffee can. Some are draped around the roots of my reeds and sedges. Some are in deeper water laying on the leaves. None were draped over my pallets.

Some years I do get algae issues on the eggs and no idea why.

The last few years I have removed the eggs as soon as I saw them to see if different water conditions or water chemistry would help them hatch better. I assume they are fertilized the same night they are laid so hopefully removing them promptly in the am is OK. I have never seen YP have sex during the day. IS that possible? Is it possible that no eggs get laid or fertilized in daytime hours?

Our YP and probably their ancestors for the past 10 or more generations came from a fish farm so they probably have no idea what a branch even looks like anymore.

I'd be very interested in including new genetics. I'll ask fellow YP pond meister and MI member Ron Crismon about the YP he uses, their genetic pedigree and where he tends to find his eggs.