Disasterous Gar/ Bowfin pond overwintering attempt.

[screaminleeman]

Herons have been on this earth longer then the house has been there also .. Not there fault humans have decided to take a lot of there habitats , wouldnt be fair just to kill them


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And cicadas have been on Earth longer than Humans. So?

If we are talking length of time spent on Earth as a barometer of deserving a certain "habitat", I will remind you of the two species that these Herons are taking out of my pond.

Gars (200,000,000 years inhabiting what is now the USA) and Bowfin (150,000,000 years inhabiting what is now the USA)! Gars and Bowfin have outlasted the dinosaurs.

These bastard birds are probably "inhabitants" of this "habitat" for less than one 50th the time than the Bowfin and Gar. The ancient Bowfin and Gar belong in my pond.

I have three apple trees, a persimmon and the farm pond non-stop attract deer. We see the herd everyday. They are 100% welcome to as many apples or persimmons as they can eat (with my blessing). They use the pond daily and I have less than no issue there either.

If the Herons could limit themselves to all they could eat minnows and mean green sunnies, I would adore their "habitation". Since they are seemingly only attracted to "species" that I would like to raise in my pond, they are flat out unwelcome invaders (protected by MD. law!)

 

[pharmaecopia]

I wouldn't despair quite yet.

A couple weeks ago I moved some of my floridas outside in a smaller pond. There are currently 24 in total in there at this time in the 6' by 4' pond. Even with this very high stocking density I hardly see them come up for a breath unless it is quite warm, and consequently the water is quite warm.

My thought is that with such a large pond the temps are likely still on the cool side causing the gars to be relatively inactive. This combined with cooler water having more dissolved oxygen and just the overall larger volume of the pond is likely why you haven't seen any of the gars.

 

[screaminleeman]

I wouldn't despair quite yet.

A couple weeks ago I moved some of my floridas outside in a smaller pond. There are currently 24 in total in there at this time in the 6' by 4' pond. Even with this very high stocking density I hardly see them come up for a breath unless it is quite warm, and consequently the water is quite warm.

My thought is that with such a large pond the temps are likely still on the cool side causing the gars to be relatively inactive. This combined with cooler water having more dissolved oxygen and just the overall larger volume of the pond is likely why you haven't seen any of the gars.

I am so hoping that you are right.

I built a concrete block runoff path diverter and dug a pit under the PVC pipe that feeds the pond from the spring burying a 100 gallon preformed pond with additional liner. That stops the runoff from carrying silt into the pond and the pond acts as a catch for silt coming through the spring water during storms.
The spring feed outside of a drought is still too cold for most any species of pond fish I put into the preformed pond to survive even summer. It is also the only area in the pond that the surface has never frozen over (since at least 1979).

I just put 2,000 more golden shiners in this week. Hopefully that brings them out.

 

[MonsterMinis]

x2 we had a pond that backed up to our old house... we stocked it with all kinds of fish.. some we wouldn't see for years..... If you had a complete die-off includeing your other fish I'de worry but atm I wouldn't stress to much ( I know easier said then done)