The minnows showing up puzzles me more than the turtle and crawdads....LOL ! Do you suppose they could have hitched a ride on a duck/goose/heron ? :huh:
Biggest koi i seen *pictures*
- Thread starter PufferBoi
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nah we sorta assumed someone snuck in to go fishing thinking it was a bass or catfish pond and just dumped the minnows when the had no luck (because theres nothing in there cept koi and carp
A lot of little wild fish can show up out of no where. My old house had a depression in the back yard that would become a pond after a lot of spring or summer rain. Even though it was dry ground only days before, small minnow like fish would suddenly show up. They don't live very long, but some fish eggs can wait, dry up, rehydrate, and then mature after a good rain. It is also possible for small fish or fish eggs to be moved around in little bitty (only inches of water) that connect pond and rivers, or even to get stuck on birds or other animals. I don't know how your fish got there, but if you dig a big enough pond pretty much anywhere that has a warm wet season, some kind of fish will show up. Amazing little creatures!
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Emg said:
you hit it on the head, ducks and the like can transport eggs very easily. I would assume a duck introduced the minnows but the fisherman theory is very possible also.
The largest koi I've seen are at a place called the "Japanese Koi and Pond Store", most easily over two feet. They have HUGE ponds in the back for these guys.
Birds transport fish eggs from other ponds on there feet and belly, my friend has a pond full of bass and bluegills, but he never stocked it the geese did it. Crawfish will travel and turtles definately do, when i lived in ohio I always carried my 22 in my car cause people were always asking me to dispose of giant 3' snappers that would be in there yard, porch, pond, etc. If you found one in your front yard than you most likely have one/some in your pond and they can be dangerous if you let small children swim in your pond, I saw a goose disapear in our pond before I found the giant culpret and put him down. They also carry lots and lots of parasites. So be aware of the snappers and check that pond every so often, those "minnows" could be baby bass and if not you might get some soon so can I come over and go fishing?
Koi are a tipe of carp like stated before and get verrrrrryyyy large, I'm serprised so many of you have never seen a koi pond before with fish from 2 - 4 feet long. The ones in the pictures are pretty average size they can get a lot bigger.
Koi are a tipe of carp like stated before and get verrrrrryyyy large, I'm serprised so many of you have never seen a koi pond before with fish from 2 - 4 feet long. The ones in the pictures are pretty average size they can get a lot bigger.
I hope I'm not missing a joke. But, how could a duck or other water fowl trasport live fish to a pond.
If the pond has a creek feeding into it they probably just came from up stream. Even if the creek is dried up most of the time. One good rain will bring the fish.
If the pond has a creek feeding into it they probably just came from up stream. Even if the creek is dried up most of the time. One good rain will bring the fish.
Oh-yeah you would be advised to leave snapping turles alone, they are actually very benifical to have in a pond. And they don't carry parasites or disease, that is just an old farmers tale for a reason to kill them. Just pick the turtle up from the side of its shell ( I hope you know to keep the head away from you). And carry it to a grassy spot. They only move away from water sources to breed.
When the birds walk around in the showlows (sp? brain fart) the fish eggs get stuck to there feet and then they fly to another pond were the eggs come of in the showlow water of the new pond where the eggs hatch and grow into fullgrown fish. No joke, like I said that's how my friends pond got stocked. The parasites are no myth either, I've seen them worms and whatnot attached to them, probably 90% of them. And I would not recomend picking them up by the shell, they may look slow but they can move quick in a short spurt easily spinning fast enough to grab your arm before you can react I have the scar to prove it, luckily he just barly got my skin and no bone. They are very agressive and believe it or not they can jump! and they can snap a broom handle and put 2 really big holes in a shovel handle. Turtles in general might be benificial for a pond, but snappers are not. They get too large and too dangerous, a large snapper could easily bite a small childs hand off. They could also get small pets (e.g. my little sister lost a kitten to a snapper)
If you are against killing them use a shovel to pick them up and take it somewhere very far from your house, they can travel quite a distance.
If you are against killing them use a shovel to pick them up and take it somewhere very far from your house, they can travel quite a distance.
"Huh???" indeed...
I concur with Onikun on the copper thing. I'm surprised at how healthy those fish look with all that copper leaching into the water.
I live near an unfished state reservoir and have seen native carp there spawning in a fairly shallow stream that were easily three feet long.
Snappers are dangerous, but only if you approach them. They are beneficial to a pond's ecosystem, they cull weaker fish and keep fish populations in control which is especially important in a pond that has no aquatic predators like the carp pond mentioned (you can't depend on birds alone to keep an ecosystem balanced, especially with fish that grow as big as carp). Carp feed heavily and could outbreed the pond resulting in a diseased population and failing water quality.
How about just keeping kids and kittens away from the turtles? They have as much right or more to be there as you do (actually they were there before us, snappers are not much changed from primordial times). Where I live snappers are considered natural predators and it is illegal to kill them. When I've seen people harassing them, throwing rocks at them, trying to kill them, whatever, the first thing I do is call DEM (dept. environmental management) and start taking pictures.
I concur with Onikun on the copper thing. I'm surprised at how healthy those fish look with all that copper leaching into the water.
I live near an unfished state reservoir and have seen native carp there spawning in a fairly shallow stream that were easily three feet long.
Snappers are dangerous, but only if you approach them. They are beneficial to a pond's ecosystem, they cull weaker fish and keep fish populations in control which is especially important in a pond that has no aquatic predators like the carp pond mentioned (you can't depend on birds alone to keep an ecosystem balanced, especially with fish that grow as big as carp). Carp feed heavily and could outbreed the pond resulting in a diseased population and failing water quality.
How about just keeping kids and kittens away from the turtles? They have as much right or more to be there as you do (actually they were there before us, snappers are not much changed from primordial times). Where I live snappers are considered natural predators and it is illegal to kill them. When I've seen people harassing them, throwing rocks at them, trying to kill them, whatever, the first thing I do is call DEM (dept. environmental management) and start taking pictures.
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