The Chicken Or The Egg???

[Mag Man]

I have a small pond the I dug at the bottom of two hills last year with the loader on my H its primarily a run off pond from water that comes under the road from the fields and from my moms celular run off also. This year because of the rain it has not gone dry yet. There is no spring just ground table and rain. Well i went down to look today and there are two distinct different size minnows swimming around really small ones and ones that are about 2 to 3 weeks older probably. Where did they come from? There has been an occasional blue hearing crane there. and there are frogs and tadpoles also. No one could have stroked them without me knowing and they are to small for anyone to have put there.
JON

[Rick Prentice]

Hi Jon. I have friends with ponds and they all say that the birds bring eggs and somehow deposite them into the water. Probably from eating fish with eggs and then digesting them at the new location. I'm sure someone will jump in later with a more possitive answer

Rick

[Rudi]

Jon:

Rick as usual is pretty much on the money..

My pond is primarily fed by run-off, although there are numerous small springs around and in.. but not enough to completely fill the pond. Evaporation is a big problem, but this year with all the rain, my pond is a happy place, especially with the new 1/2 hp pump in the fountain.

Chubb (this is a UK site, but applies to North America also, although the fish may not exceed 1 lb in small lakes. In ponds, they may grow to 1/2 lb depending on pond size and habitat], and other minnow type fish are carried by ducks, geese, herons and other water fowl which visit water hole to water hole. I found that after the first winter, there were small fry in my pond. Surprisingly some of the fry ended up being Brookies...



Along with the Brookies (Brown or Speckled) and the Rainbow Trout that are stocked in my pond, we have noticed a fair amount of diversity in the aquatic life in the pond.. it has become a real diversified eco-system. We also learned that captive Brook Trout do spawn.. we have had at least 3 spawns.. in the last 4 years.. but the Rainbows do not (we have an irridation program for Rainbow's as they are not native and escape is a big concern for the government).

So that is probably how you have ended up with these minnows. If you want to find out what they are, you may have to wait a few years for them to make adult hood if they are anything aside from Chubb. Any good feed store has the equivalent to our Corey #2, 3, 4 and 5 fish meal.. it is inexpensive and can be interesting to see what happens..


Here is an interesting site on Ponds... How to Create a Wildlife Pond In Your Garden.. these are mostly smallish though..

[Lurker Carl]

Fish eggs are sticky and travel on bird legs/feet among watering holes.

[ljw]

I dug my pond about 15 years ago and I stocked it with blue gill and smallmouth bass. And one white amur (grass carp) These are the only fish I ever see in the pond, but I suppose other species are in there. I have seen many mussels, though. Bullfrogs and the green frogs. Even turtles! I don't go down there as much as I used to. Watching a pond grow is amazing. It's a complete ecosystem. I guess the Canadian geese get a pretty good meal out of there when they migrate. I see those herons in there, too. Usually they're alone, though. I bet that I've caught the grass carp 3-4 times down through the years. He's at least 2 ft. long! I haven't seen him this year. I go to the feed store and buy the 50 lb bag of floating fish food for about $15.00. It lasts me for a couple of years.

If I remember accurately, you need about 6-30 times the ratio of water shed to the area of your pond for proper filling. My pond still drops about 2 ft. each year. Last fall I dug a 15 ft. deep hole at the base of the dam and buried a culvert pipe vertically, backfilling with gravel. My intention is to drop a sump pump down there and add water to the pond during late summer when the level drops. I'd better get on that. I think I'll take the dogs down for a swim later. I just hope I don't get dog bit.

Larry