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Bruce
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Ah, well I could do that I suppose.
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RollingAcres
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Soup looks good @Bruce!
Baymule
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I bet your wife sure appreciated coming home to a pot of hot soup on a snowy cold day!
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Bruce
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Heard back from the state fish and game people regarding to what kind of fish I have. He agreed they are juvenile panfish, probably bluegill. Seems one can't buy such things and you need a permit to trap them. Of course with a fishing license you could always go out and hope to catch some. He suggested getting fathead minnows or golden shiners at a bait shop. Both seem to like fairly still water which sure describes my pond. In addition I found this on golden shiners:
"Golden shiners are omnivorous. They eat zooplankton, insects, plants, and algae."
I wonder just how much algae the will eat. Sure could use help in that respect!
I asked about the possibility of trapping some in the other pond (if they exist) without a permit. Also even if I did have bluegill in the other pond if it would be a good idea to have multiple species anyway. Also asked how long it takes bluegill to mature given these don't seem to be growing all that fast. Will see what he has to say.
Wikipedia says:
"The growth of the bluegill is very rapid in the first three years, but slows considerably once the fish reaches maturity. Many fish reach five to eight years old, and in extreme cases, can live 11 years."
And again, this on golden shiners:
"In the southern parts of their range, golden shiners can start reproducing at one year of age; in Canada, first breeding is more commonly at three years of age." Seems like it would be quite a long time for any fish to get old enough to reproduce. So again, how did I have fish in the pond? I've never seen an adult fish in the pond and we've owned the place for 8 years. Maybe they stayed in their juvenile state? Can that even happen?
"Golden shiners are omnivorous. They eat zooplankton, insects, plants, and algae."
I wonder just how much algae the will eat. Sure could use help in that respect!
I asked about the possibility of trapping some in the other pond (if they exist) without a permit. Also even if I did have bluegill in the other pond if it would be a good idea to have multiple species anyway. Also asked how long it takes bluegill to mature given these don't seem to be growing all that fast. Will see what he has to say.
Wikipedia says:
"The growth of the bluegill is very rapid in the first three years, but slows considerably once the fish reaches maturity. Many fish reach five to eight years old, and in extreme cases, can live 11 years."
And again, this on golden shiners:
"In the southern parts of their range, golden shiners can start reproducing at one year of age; in Canada, first breeding is more commonly at three years of age." Seems like it would be quite a long time for any fish to get old enough to reproduce. So again, how did I have fish in the pond? I've never seen an adult fish in the pond and we've owned the place for 8 years. Maybe they stayed in their juvenile state? Can that even happen?
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CntryBoy777
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More than likely, they were transferred by either waterfowl or nomadic turtles....the fertilized eggs will cling to feathers or scales on the legs of the birds and can be dislodged on landing in another area....they can also be trapped in the wrinkles and creases of skin of the turtle and around the shell they too can become dislodged as the turtle crawls across logs, limbs, and the bottom silt of another pond of water. 1 female bluegill can produce 10,000 eggs in a breeding season....here in the south that happens twice a year and is dictated by water temps usually in the Apr-May and Sept-Oct time periods.....
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Bruce
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Wow, really interesting! We do get a few mallards and Canada Geese coming through during migration.
RollingAcres
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That's really interesting to know!
greybeard
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There are several species of bluegill, and not all get 'large'. I have them by the thousands and have only very occasionally caught one large enough to even consider being of 'eating' size.
Golden shiners otoh, get quite large for a 'minnow' type fish and the ones I have are just too large for my bluegill to eat.
You would be well served I think, to buy your flathead minnows from a fishery instead of from a bait shop. Lots cheaper and your state may even bear part of the cost.
If you have any great blue or lesser herons walking around your ponds, you won't see many fish grow to maturity. They are deadly and voracious fishers and I've been told they even fish at night, tho the ones I have, come in every evening and roost in a big pine tree right about sunset. I could have killed them off long ago but just haven't seen the need to since I have such a large pond network and have never seen more than 3 at any time.
This one has no idea how close to death he is.......there's a conibear beaver trap just a couple feet ahead of him right at the water's edge just past the fallen sapling.
Believe it or not, turtles eat a lot of minnows. They are more stealthy than most folks think.
Golden shiners otoh, get quite large for a 'minnow' type fish and the ones I have are just too large for my bluegill to eat.
You would be well served I think, to buy your flathead minnows from a fishery instead of from a bait shop. Lots cheaper and your state may even bear part of the cost.
If you have any great blue or lesser herons walking around your ponds, you won't see many fish grow to maturity. They are deadly and voracious fishers and I've been told they even fish at night, tho the ones I have, come in every evening and roost in a big pine tree right about sunset. I could have killed them off long ago but just haven't seen the need to since I have such a large pond network and have never seen more than 3 at any time.
This one has no idea how close to death he is.......there's a conibear beaver trap just a couple feet ahead of him right at the water's edge just past the fallen sapling.
Believe it or not, turtles eat a lot of minnows. They are more stealthy than most folks think.
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Bruce
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I've not seen any fish more than maybe 4" and not many of those. None of the biggest I have seen even have the characteristic panfish shape. And yes I do have great blue herons. One came to the buffet daily as the pond slowly dried up. I'm sure it ate hundreds of fish, tadpoles and frogs.
Hmm, looked again at shiners and fathead minnows. Yep, says shiners can get to 12" long though 3-5" is more common in the wild. Fathead minnows only to maybe 2". There aren't any hatcheries around here. Is your suggestion based just on cost? I have no idea what a bait shop charges or a hatchery that would have to ship them.
I watched a video of a guy in Alabama who had a small pond put in his back yard for the 2 bass he had in an aquarium. He bought 3 catfish, caught a couple of panfish specifically to put in the pond and got 10,000 golden shiners delivered and in the pond before putting the other fish in. I REALLY don't need 10,000 fish! He got them for the other fish to feed on. He got another 10,000 not all that long after being quickly down to a few hundred by his estimation. I guess those bass and the other fish eat a lot. The shiners were really small, probably not more than about 1".
