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Pond is in!

dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
I'd bet that the "goby" is a darter.

We have about 7 different kinds of fish in the stream behind our house.

Sunfish might be really cool for your pond, Matt. We have really nice purplish bluegills in our neighborhood pond. Bob Bock knows where to find another variety off of Canal Road :)

Matt

FishEggs said:
I can catch ya some of the fish that swim in the little Creek behind my house. There is at least 2 different kinds. One looks like some type of goby the way it skitters across the bottom.
Have you seen mountain minnows' colors when raised outside?
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Z

zendog

Active Member
You could probably also try the blue spotted sunfish, which I don't think are as shy as the black stripe type, but still don't get too big. Depending on how much sun the pond gets, I'd probably not try anything that lives in streams since the pond will be hotter and hold less oxygen than they are used to, particularly if you have a hot early spring before the water lilies, etc. shade the pond's water.

Rosy red minnows are the easiest things going, dirt cheap and are just a color morph of the native fat head minnows. I toss them in tubs with lotus or water lilies to take care of any mosquito larva and have never had to use dunks. If you get some, they'll breed and sustain a population in the pond, school around and are visible because of their color. Only get the "red" (really pinkish orange) ones or when they interbreed they'll all be tan/grey within a generation or so.
 
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mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
I'm thinking the waterfall will keep the pond pretty well oxygenated, assuming no power failures. Blue spotted sunfish, huh? Where in the world would one buy those?

Interesting idea on the rosy red minnow, although the name "fat head minnow" is definitely a turnoff.
 
dogofwar

dogofwar

CCA Members
Honestly, I'd catch some locally first. They're all around us :)

Bob knows several spots in the area.

Come on by some evening and we can get some shiners and sunfish from our stream / pond. Will take about 10 minutes to dip net some. It's private land, so you don't even need a fishing license :)

Matt

mchambers said:
Thanks. I'll probably look locally first, but this place has some interesting fish.
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mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
dogofwar said:
Honestly, I'd catch some locally first. They're all around us :)

Bob knows several spots in the area.

Come on by some evening and we can get some shiners and sunfish from our stream / pond. Will take about 10 minutes to dip net some. It's private land, so you don't even need a fishing license :)

Matt
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Thanks!
 
Z

zendog

Active Member
You can get blue spotted sunfish here:
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/Bluespotted-Sunfish.html

Although it would be fun to go on a collecting trip.

It's probably just me, but I'd be reluctant to go with other sunfish. They get bigger quickly and may try to make nesting areas in your plant pots. If you top the soil with pea gravel, the banded or blue spotted are small enough not to do much damage, but bigger sunfish could probably move all but the largest gravel. I also like having the pond as a breeding ground for damsel and dragon flies and the bigger Sunnies would probably devour the larva.

But on the plus side, they can become very friendly and will actually eat out of your hand and you'll never find them to be picky eaters.
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
I agree on the other sunfish. That's the problem with collecting: you really can't research beforehand. But collecting shiners seems low risk.

I'm happy to give Frank more business, since he has such great fish, so if I decide to add sunfish, I'll buy from him.
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
No frogs. An occasional dragonfly. The birds love it.

We still need to add plantings around the perimeter, but we'll probably wait for fall sales at local nurseries.

I'm getting some blue spotted sunfish today, by mail, but I think I'll put them in a quarantine tank for a while.
 
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