NANFA-- fall draw down of killi pond
R. W. Wolff (choupiqu_at_wctc.net)
Sat, 28 Oct 2000 21:20:01 -0500
Today I did the fall draw down of my killi pond, a 9 foot by 15 foot pond in
my front yard.
This spring I put in-Black banded sunfish, everglades pygmy sunfish, red
faced topminnow, plains topminnow, blackspotted golden topminnow, bluefin
killifish, swamp killifish, bayou killifish, Florida flagfish ,pygmy
livebearer and dwarf crawfish. ( enneacanthus chaetodon, elassoma
evergladie, fundulus rubrifrons, f. sciadicus, f. chrysotus melanisitic ,
lucania goodie, leptolucania ommata, f. pulverous, jordanella floridae,
heterandria fomosa, and camberlus shufeldti.)
It was a so-so year, and I expected more, since I did see alot of young
blackbanded sunfish in the pond earlier this fall. I managed to get alot of
evergladie, ommata, chrysotus, formosa and shufeldti. I got a few
chaetodons, floridaes, and rubrifrons. I may have gotten a few pulverous,
and no goodie. Last year goodie boomed, while ommata didnt do anything.
Chrysotus no matter the strain seem to do great outside. I had some normally
colored ones in a 80 gallon pond with a pair of dollar sunfish that didnt
know the meaning of over crowded.
With the miserable turn out in my elassoma tub ponds in the garden, it
has actually been a dismal year for my ponds. All that is left now is the
gar pond, and I dont expect too many young fish in there. I should have
some various sunfish and killifish, and maybe some darter species that may
have spawned. In there I dont expect to see alot of young of them fish,
since it is " the gar pond" and most these fish are a supplement to the
weekly minnows I let go in there. I hope to have some of the fish make it
however, to be there for next years brood stock.
Every year is a learning experience, and I can just use what I learned
this year to do better next year. One possible problem in the killipond may
have been dragonfly larvae. I brought a ice cream pail with a thick layer
of them on the bottom in to feed to my mud sunfish and warmouth. They
really enjoyed them. The amphipods and gammurus did well in the killipond
as well. The snail population was much lower this year than last, I think
the blackbands and evergladei ate them in quantitys, and the dwarf crawfish
probably did too.
Ray
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