Found a pond!!

[Dread]

I've always always envied people with natural ponds on their property - but no more! I was riding my quad (Yamaha YFZ450 SE, yeeeehaw) around my (+parents) property, and I stumbled upon a pond I've never even seen before, and I've lived at my house for 9 years. I quick ran around franticly taking measurements after returning home for a tap measure. It's bout 80 feet long, 40 feet wide at it's widest point, and around 7' deep at the deepest point (I couldn't touch the bottom, and I'm 5'10''). The water is clear enough to easily see the bottom, and as far as I could tell, there is no current fish in this pond. I was dumbfounded, naturally, and after my daze wore off, I thought about what any MFKer would: STOCKING! It's on my property, very far (about 2 miles) from the nearest waterway, and judging by the trees and vegetation growing around it, it's been there for years. My dad knew about it, but never mentioned it to me for some reason. . Soon, I'll be converting a 10,500gallon above-ground pool to temproary house whatever it is in my basement during colder winter months. Keeping these paramenters in mind, I planned on something like re-creating (stock-wise) an amazon-type fish setup. Arowanas are already on my list, about 5 of them, so I was curious to know what else I should put into my new found pond? I'd love something that when I show people, they'd go "WHOA, THATS A BIG FISH" and although I know a Piracuru would do this, I couldn't house it in a 10,500g "tank" in the window with the other occupants. Plus, I don't feel comfortable taking such a large animal from place to place, possibly on a quad. That's no good. So, what would anyone suggest for stocking suggestions? I thought maybe a group of Peacock Bass would be nice, and I'm also open to any other suggestion (even if it isn't an 'amazon-type' setup!). I'll get pictures of this pond as soon as I am able to, to give an idea of what I am talking about. If I'm correct in measurements (which I am, within 10 inches, atleast) it's about 165,000 gallons in the pond! You haven't a clue how excited I am.

 

[Wolf3101]

My only question about a pond like this is the whole "winter" quarters idea. From expierance...it's VERY difficult to catch all the fish in a natural pond. My suggestion would to be to go a differant route with it and stock something along the lines of a sterlett or other large intresting fish that can live in the pond year round. If the pond is as clear as you say it is then it's bieng fed fairly well by a spring and you'll be restricted to the local water conditions and PH. You also need to concider what adding a large bio-mass to the empty pond will do to the water conditions.

 

[Atreyu]

call me but.... couldn't you try to enclose the pond and try to heat it somehow?

 

[hayden]

throw a couple pacus in there they will get huge and every body likes the way a pauc looks

 

[Dread]

My only question about a pond like this is the whole "winter" quarters idea. From expierance...it's VERY difficult to catch all the fish in a natural pond. My suggestion would to be to go a differant route with it and stock something along the lines of a sterlett or other large intresting fish that can live in the pond year round. If the pond is as clear as you say it is then it's bieng fed fairly well by a spring and you'll be restricted to the local water conditions and PH. You also need to concider what adding a large bio-mass to the empty pond will do to the water conditions.

I understand the re-catching all the fish, so while I was eatting Pizza, I thought about what would happen if I put a couple dozen (maybe 3 or 4 dozen) Convict cichlids in there. They're like $1.99 each at my LFS, so the price wouldn't be such a big deal, and I figure their prolific breeding could be fairly interesting in the pond, and when it came to catching them, there'd be plenty to get ahold of, and it would be considerably easier than catching, say, arowana in the pond. I figure casting one of those large mesh nets tied to weights (I forget what these are called, but they're used pretty often) would catch a decent number of them in a short amount of time. They'd be easy to transport via ATV in a bucket (5 gallon, secured of course). The concern of the bio-mass crossed my mind, but the spring idea did not. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't see how a spring could come from 2 miles away and manage to stay as clean as the water is. It isn't pool-water clean, but you can easily see 4 or 5 feet down. The bottom of the pond appears to be beach-like sand, and patches of mud and seaweed-type plants. There were definately turtles and frogs living in the pond, because I saw plenty of them. I did not see any fish, but there is plenty of bugs and such living in there for sure. Does this change anything? I'd love to stock this pond, but all in all, it is about the fish, and I do want what would be best for them.

 

[hayden]

i would throw in some minnows for now to give what ever you put in some food for later and to cut back on the bugs for when you go to look at it

and the nets are just called casting nets or srimping nets or throwing nets

 

[amehel0]

why not put a wels catfish in? that would be sick. screw restrictions.

 

[Dread]

It does a little bit more than creep me out to think I could potentially be in the water with this....

The fish. Not the guys. Although that would be equally as creepy, I imagine. It's weird, I love big fish, but ever since I was 5 or 6, I've had a big phobia of being in the water with large fish. I remember fishing at a pond with friends, and I looked between cracks in the wood on the dock we were on, and there was a big carp staring at me. Ever since then, big fish stay in an aquarium, or far away from where I'm at.

 

[Pout]

I would say First Add Some Chinese High Fins To start eating the algea population,

 

[Pout]

Or evan i know you can get some tiger Muskie Where you are or order them from TFD Or go with GAR or go with a school of like 8 Chinese High Fins They Live forever and will overwinter in a pond that size and they will eventualllly GET big around 40'' Here are some pictures

Andy