unknown fish

I don't get why the pond is dropping a foot a day..... is this something that typically happens to this pond or are them emptying it on purpose for invasive species of plants and/or animals or something?

the cats are a channel (lighter one) and bullhead for the darker one.
 
its not a pond but a really big puddle in the middle of a big river that goes through a bunch of different towns, and the river is empty for the winter and whats left are these almost ponds that dry up. im just trying to save what i can. they are going into my old roommates pond we are building. and a few in some of my family members tanks and maybe even my uncles pond. and i might sell some. as for the cats thank you for your input and yeah your right after we did some research we found that the lighter one is a channel cat while the darker one i a bullhead. the bull heads i have kept in old tanks but didnt know what they were and i fed them worms, but for the most part they grew slower than my other cats and didnt seem aggresive at all.
 
actually after seeing some pics of young crappie today i think your right, i believe i have crappie not shiner perchs. so my list is channel cats, bullhead cats, large mouth bass, crappie, eastern mosquito minnows. and there was another mystery fish in the puddle that got away till another day. oh and i got a lot of tadpoles.
 
That doesn't like a juvie crappie IMO, not to mention both white and black crappies are not native to Cali. They are still found in certain watersheds but that might be something you look into for your specific area.
 
and one day when they are bigger i can release them in our local lake since they are a native fish.

Make sure not cross contaminate by mixing ornamental fish with native nor apparatus such as filters, net, etc. Care should be given.

Although it may seem impossible, there is a high chance you maybe introducing pathogens (bacteria, virus, parasites) unknown to our native water and fish. Such can have drastic effect on our ecology.
 
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