Looking for Farm Pond Ideas in Iowa....

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Chronic Apathy

Feeder Fish
Sep 23, 2013
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Iowa
After watching some videos of people in warm climates raising some amazing fish in yard ponds, I started thinking I would love to have something really cool in my Pond. My little pond is a 2/3 acre in South Central Iowa.

So I am coming to y'all to ask for ideas of what I can put in my pond. Been reading about Sturgeon or paddlefish.

I am planning on digging out the pond out this fall and making it a tad bigger. This pond is very old and was only 8 foot deep. It will soon be 12 foot at the deepest with an average of about 9 foot deep. I did put in a aerator last fall to help the pond life and to keep it from freezing over. Before the aerator it only had small Bullhead Cats. This spring I added some small Bluegill, Bass, Crappie, hybrid Bluegill and a white allure. None fish residents are some Domestic Geese, Mascovy Ducks, ton of frogs, and an occasional Heron.

I have access to a 90 gallon tank if i need to raise something a bit. The most interesting thing I have ever raised was a Tulip Eel.

Any advice or tips are more than welcome.


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Personally I wouldn't put sturgeons in that pond because of the waterfowl you have might will affect the water quality. I don't understand what is the point for add fish in large natural ponds that you never see them again unless you caught them on hooks...not mentioned that you have predators in there (bass & bullheads). Perhaps some albino channel catfish would be excellent choice for you.
 
Makes sense. I was watching a video in here of a guy that was feed a gar meat on the end of a stick. I was just hoping / thinking it would be fun to have an actual "pet" fish in the pond. Also my kids like to go out on a canoe and look for the fish with a finder. Would paddlefish suffer from the same issues as a sturgeon?


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Chronic Apathy said:
Makes sense. I was watching a video in here of a guy that was feed a gar meat on the end of a stick. I was just hoping / thinking it would be fun to have an actual "pet" fish in the pond. Also my kids like to go out on a canoe and look for the fish with a finder. Would paddlefish suffer from the same issues as a sturgeon?


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No Paddlefish are big filter feeders and need a lot of room and huge amounts of zooplankton to survive, Channel catfish like Rebel said can be trained to eat from your hands especially if you tank raise them while their young before you put them into the pond.
 
i would recommend koi fish. cuz atleast u will be able to see them especially during feeding time. and u can get some lotus plants and other aquatic plants growing in the pond to give it some oxygen. and kois are all season fish so they make perfect fish for ur location that can get hot and super cold.
 
Albino channels would be cool, koi are always an obvious pond choice, id honestly go with gar, maybe some longnoses. it will help keep the other fish populations low too haha

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Koi carps are poor choices for natural pond, especially at that size and it's a necessary to have a large numbers of large predators to control unwanted offspring that koi carp created. That said, it's okay to have koi carps in large natural ponds as long as they are all same sex and in low numbers.

I would think that this 2/3 acres of pond should able support few paddlefish as long as they can be pellet trained. Also...you can trained large predatory fish to come to you when you offer foods to them. Largemouth or Smallmouth bass, pike, longnose gar, muskellunge and catfish will responds to you as long as you aint fishing for them.
 
Thanks for all the opinions and ideas. I will continue thinking about this. And might have more questions as time goes on. First I need to finish digging it out the pond and try to get rid of the duck weed. I will decide what I want to do by late next spring. I'll keep y'all posted as thing goes on.


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MN_Rebel said:
Koi carps are poor choices for natural pond, especially at that size and it's a necessary to have a large numbers of large predators to control unwanted offspring that koi carp created. That said, it's okay to have koi carps in large natural ponds as long as they are all same sex and in low numbers.

I would think that this 2/3 acres of pond should able support few paddlefish as long as they can be pellet trained. Also...you can trained large predatory fish to come to you when you offer foods to them. Largemouth or Smallmouth bass, pike, longnose gar, muskellunge and catfish will responds to you as long as you aint fishing for them.
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Paddlefish can be trained when theyre young to take trout pellets....but they consume large quantities and would need automatic feeders, they move and eat constantly in the wild on mainly Daphnia; this is from U and A division of agriculture, "FEEDING:

In pond culture, fry initially feed on relatively large, slow-swimming zooplankton such as Daphnia spp. (water fleas) and insect larvae. These food items are preferred during the first 3 to 4 weeks. Fry cannot effectively filter- feed until their gill rakers are developed, at about 5 inches (12 cm) long or 5 to 6 weeks old. During this initial feeding period, some culturists supplement the fish diet with trout/salmon crumbles (#00-03; 50 percent protein) at a rate of 15 pounds per acre (17 kg/ha). Once the fish are about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long they can be trained to accept extruded pellets (1/16-inch or 1.5-mm; 45 percent protein). If fish are trained on a prepared diet, larger extruded pellets will be accepted by larger fish. Feed conversion ranges from 1.5 to 2 pounds of feed per pound of fish. In raceway culture, fry can be trained on a sinking diet of trout/salmon #00-03 crumbles (more than 50 percent protein). Some culturists use a 1/16-inch (1.5-mm) extruded pellet once the fish reach about 3 inches (7.5 cm) in 3 to 4 weeks. Fry (3/4 to 1.5 inch or 2 to 4 cm) are fed by automatic feeders every 15 to 20 minutes for the first 7 to 10 days. Thereafter, a combination of automatic feeders and hand feeding is used to feed the fish about every 2 hours until they are stocked into ponds or reservoirs. At this time, feed conversion ranges from 2 to 4 pounds of feed per pound of fish."
 
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