NANFA-L-- weekend anacharis

Prizma at aol.com
Mon, 19 Sep 2005 11:20:46 EDT

i spent sunday trimming back the mass of anacharis that has accumulated in
the deep end of the cement pond. i see it as a living filter and a refuge for
the fish and perhaps they nibble on the decomposing vegetation too. the
strands are over 8' long and reach to the surface where they die and make an
unsightly pale yellowish mass. this circular mass almost completely covered the
surface of the deep end.

while snorkeling i was able to reach down and clip the lengths and then
using a lawn broom lift out the pieces to a kiddie pool. i was then able to snip
off the healthy ends, rinse them and put these lush tips into a cooler for a
fish store delivery later today. i carefully watched for any fish fry but only
found a few. i suspect the eastern starheads have been using this floating
mass to deposit their eggs in. i have several dozen yoy in the pond ranging in
size from 1/2" to 1.5". they have been this year's biggest producing species
along w/ the longears and a few studfish.

in gleaning the clipped ends i found a couple fry even smaller so perhaps i
did this project a little to soon. eggs may still be being deposited. if i had
another kiddie pool i could have thrown these into it and waited a couple
weeks for any hatchings.

in studying the remnants carefully i found them teeming w/ micro life. tiny
water striders, dragon fly larva and some kinda hoping skittle bugs. viewing
under a microscope i bet would have offered much more. i assume the starheads
were constantly picking at the floating mass for these good eats.

so tho "unsightly" this floating mass provided a healthy addition to the
cement pond. im hoping the fish store owner will swap me some fish food for the
cooler full of anacharis. i still have a bunch of hornwort, java fern and
anubis to deal with. usually most of this ends up in the compost pile. i think
hornwort is my fav water plant. it seems to grow well in all my pools,
containers and tanks. i also have a lot of water lettuce and water hycenthia that
will not survive the winter outdoors. i bring in a few healthy smaller plants to
keep under compact flos in my florida tank. i will use these to repopulate
the ponds in the spring.

before it gets too cold and after the cattails brown i will have to lower
the pond and trim them and all the reeds back to the gravel. leaving to many
dead plants in the water yields problems i am told and believe.

pond care takes a lot of time and work but i do enjoy it. im a bit sunburned
and waterlogged today!

casper
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