Question about my pond

[kroman]

I bought my upstate home about 6 years ago, and it came with a good bit of land , about 8 acres. about 3 years ago my buddy who owns a construction company down the road and i decited to see what was at the bottom of a few vodka bottles and the result was alot of mayhem invovlving heavy machinery, and my new pond. Its about 80 feet by 250 feet, 30 foot deep at the center and fed by a natural brook.

The first year it was great i put in 30 Koi and 30 goldfish. All grew and got very fat, then over the next 2 years i lost a few fish here and there to predation by herrns and other critters. I got most of the ctitters with various traps/bullets, but due to the pond being fed by a brook i also have quite a few sunfish and what looks to me like golden shad in there as well. I do my best to fish them out but it's a loosing battle.

I have never seen the koi pregnenet but i have seen many of the goldfish but I am thinking due to the sunfish the eggs or fry if they hatch get eaten right away. I have strainers on the inlet and the outlet of the pond but I am guessing the fry of the sunfish still manage to get in. So my ultimate question is, is there anything that can be done to get rid of the sunfish other than manual removal of them as i do every year now, during the summer i would estimate i get about 300 of them out.
here's a shot of the pond and one of my peacock, he makes a better guard dog than my pitbull.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

 

[JonnyJ]

jealous. looks great! more photos...!

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I'd turn it into a trout pond and go fishing every day.....

 

[kroman]

I'd turn it into a trout pond and go fishing every day.....

Trust me the thought has crossed my mind , but then again I'm only 2 min away from the Schoharie Reservoir, and I have pulled out several 30" plus trout out of it.

 

[NYreefNoob]

man u ruined such a good pond, growing up in the midwes on a farm we had several ponds around us stocked with large and small mouth bass, cat's and blue gill, i so miss fishing those ponds

 

[kroman]

man u ruined such a good pond, growing up in the midwes on a farm we had several ponds around us stocked with large and small mouth bass, cat's and blue gill, i so miss fishing those ponds

I did not ruin it i made it... Besids it looks like it wants to be what it wants to be so next summer i may just take the mesh out on the inlet and outlet and let it go wild, I'm sick of fishing out sunnies all day

 

[NYreefNoob]

sorry wont bother you again

 

[albano]

I have never seen the koi pregnant

I could be wrong, but I thought that Koi were sold sterile...and that it would be illegal to allow any 'non-native' fish to breed in 'natural' waterways!

 

[kroman]

I'm not too sure they are sterile, i do know koi and goldfish hybrids are, and technically a koi is a carp, lots of those here .

 

[albano]

I'm not too sure they are sterile,...and technically a koi is a carp, lots of those here .

Not 'naturally' sterile...sterilized!
Might be best to check with local DEP...the fines could really cost you!

 

[kroman]

If they are meant to be sterile I am sure they are , i got them at dr fosters and smith, perhaps that is also why i have never seen them pregnant.

 

[jjersey85]

if theyre under 10 inches theyre probably not sexually mature yet. and it is illegal to release koi into the wild, but chances are theyd get eatten by the local species before they could do any damage. also you water quality has to be impeccable to get the koi to spawn anyway. if its possible though maybe throw in a parrot feather plant next spring, it acts as a natural nursary for the fry which will help them survive till theyre fast enough to evade predators.

 

[albano]

and it is illegal to release koi into the wild, but chances are theyd get eatten by the local species before they could do any damage... maybe throw in a parrot feather plant next spring, it acts as a natural nursary for the fry which will help them survive till theyre fast enough to evade predators.

:scratchch That's what I said before... so don't encourage him with the 'natural nursery' idea!

 

[fripclaksid]

you have a peacock...? how cool. I think you might be right with your theory of the sunfish eating the koi babies. It does make sense as the sunfish, to my knowledge are cichlids and are aggressive and territorial.

Have you ever "tested" your pond water? I think if it's fed naturally the levels should be consistently 0 no? Also what substrate do you have on the bottom?

 

[e.muehlbauer]

Do not put any "parrot feather" plants in there. That's just the aerial form of millefoil, Myriophyllum, which is extremely invasive. The last thing you would want is to have it make its way into local lakes or the reservoir. My son's in-laws live on a beautiful lake in the Berkshires...but you can't eat any fish in that lake. Decades later, its still contaminated with dioxin from the herbicides used to kill that weed. I myself would only use koi or goldfish in a fully self contained pond that had no connection to any natural body of water. Yours would be great if it were allowed to go natural.

 

[asianer]

want to sell an acre? :tongue1: