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Stocking Ponds for Balance

You may be the type to just jump into a project, as I did. You may be the type who takes a more calculated, cautious approach, preferring to learn what such a project entails first. I hope that both types of folks find this information helpful. 

 

Most of the country is currently under a cover of white snow, making this a perfect time to reflect, plan and prepare for an addition either to your garden in the form of a water garden or koi pond, or to your property in the form of a larger body of water that you’d like to use as a fishing pond.
 
Water gardens or koi ponds are points of interest in your yard, creating a new ecosystem that provides water to birds, bees, butterflies, and other creatures. Most ponds need to be stocked with some type of fish to keep a good balance in the water, and to keep pesky mosquito larvae at bay.
           
Considerations to Pond Construction
If this is your first pond, you’ll need to consider the following:
• Location
• Size
• Type (water garden or koi pond)
• Depth
• Upkeep
• Cost
 
My first pond was serendipitous at best. I had excavated a very flat area of my yard to add visual interest to my plantings, mounding soil in some areas, and excavating to lower levels in others. Before I could get to the planting, the summer rains began and to my dismay a low area collected so much water that my husband laughingly teased me about my new pond. Immediately my garden plans changed and a pond was born! Rather than fight Mother Nature, I installed a pond in that low-lying area.
 
Water Garden vs. Koi Pond
I chose to have a water garden rather than a koi pond for two reasons. The first was that I hit both granite and caliche at a depth of 36 inches. Koi need a depth of three to five feet in my area. I also wanted to have plants in my garden and koi are voracious fish; eating just about everything in sight.
 
Water Garden:
All ponds need to have a minimum depth of 36 inches to allow for most fish to overwinter. Koi have specific needs, which we’ll handle shortly. Goldfish, mosquito fish, and other more common fish that you may choose to put in your pond will survive the winter if certain conditions are met. The deepest end of your pond must be at least 36 inches deep and you need to either keep a waterfall running or use a horse tank heater to keep an open spot in the ice to allow for ammonia gases to escape.
 
Most water gardens are designed to hold both fish and plants. Aquatic plants are mostly classified as bog plants, and the typical water garden will have shelves lining the walls of the pond that are 12 inches below the surface of the water.
 
Water gardens will also have a shallow end that is about 12 to 18 inches in depth, gradually deepening until it reaches a full depth of 36 inches at the other end of the pond.
 
A water garden can be just about any size, from less than 50 gallons, to greater than 1000 gallons. Most water gardens will support both goldfish and mosquito fish. Both species will only grow to a size that reflects the size of your pond.
 
Water gardens are a beautiful addition to any garden setting and can be just about any size you like. Most of the time, you’ll be more interested in the plants thatyou can grow in a water garden than thenumber and types of fish you can keep.
 
Koi Pond:
Koi are an entirely different story. These beautiful fish are revered in Japan, living up to 70 years at times. Keeping koi is a completely different hobby than having a water garden. Koi need a greater depth otherwise you’ll have an overwintering tank in your garage or basement for part of the year. Most koi ponds are 4 to 5 feet deep all the way around the pond. You should never have a shallow end in a koi pond. This deeper pond will protect your koi in two ways:
• The greater depth will protect your koi from hungry cranes who can easily manage to fish at a depth of three feet. Cranes are smart, and if you have a shallow end to your koi pond, the crane will wait or bait your koi with regurgitated chum to get the fish to come out of the deeper water into the more easily accessible shallow depths, right into the crane’s mouth.
• The larger volume of water keeps the water temperature more stable. Koi are beautiful fish, but are susceptible to fluctuating temps.
 
Because koi can grow from a six inch fingerling to greater than two feet in length in three years, depending on how much you feed them, they need a much larger pond. The size of koi is not impacted by the size of your pond. It is important to only stock as many as your pond can reasonably support. In a 1000 gallon pond, you don’t want any more than four koi in it, as each koi should be allotted 250 gallons per fish. You’ll be tempted to stock more, especially when they’re small, but you’ll only disappoint yourself because you’ll end up with sick fish and a lot of organic waste.
 
Some people believe that if they live in really cold climates they cannot have a pond with fish in it. Take a look at all the lakes around you…see all the fishing shacks? They’re filled with folks fishing for bass, blue gill, sunfish, and carp. Koi are part of the carp family and can easily overwinter, provided the conditions are correct.
 
In very cold climates, your koi pond needs to be 4 to 6 feet deep in order to maintain a bottom temperature of 40° F. You must also make sure that there is a hole maintained in the ice either by running water, or a horse water heater to allow for all the toxic gasses to escape. If you cannot maintain these conditions, bring your koi inside and keep them in your garage or basement for the winter in a tank.
 
You can keep other fish in your koi pond like goldfish and mosquito fish. You can also keep blue gill, guppies, and bass in the koi pond as long as it is deep enough to have a mean temperature of 65° F. Some pond owners add aquatic plants to their koi pond, and aesthetically, they are very pleasing. Just remember that I warned you, almost all pond plants are koi food! If you install a koi pond, you’ll be more interested in the fish than the plants.
 
Stocking Personal Fishing Ponds
The average yard can accommodate either a water garden or a koi pond. However, there are some of you who are interested in something of an entirely different nature. You want a fishing pond on your property.
Perhaps you already have a pond, but you don’t have any fish. What do you do?
 
First of all, let me assure you, that it is perfectly legal to have a private fishing pond on your property as long as you never charge anyone to fish there. Once you do that, you’ll be considered a commercial enterprise and the rules change dramatically!
 
Before we begin to evaluate the various fish you may wish to stock in your ponds, please check with your local game and fish department to see if you need any type of permit to transport fish from one body of
water to another, and to see if your state has regulations about owning a fishing pond. Most of the time all you need are permits, which are relatively easy to obtain. Every state has different rules and regulations, and it is up to you to abide by these rules.
 
Evaluate the Conditions
Temperature:
You need to determine if you have a warm-water or a cold water pond. Most cold water ponds have a mean surface temperature of less than 74°F for most of the year, are deeper, and are often spring-fed.
Warm water ponds have a surface water temperature that is often over 74°F and will have to have its water supply augmented by a well or a dam. Warm water ponds will support large-mouth bass and bluegills. Cold water ponds will support trout.
Depth:
A warm-water pond that supports fish needs to have a depth of 8 feet over 1/2 acre surface area or more. Most warm water species of fish need shallow waters for spawning, which is important if you want your fish to reproduce and minimize your restocking fees.
 
A cold-water pond needs to be at least 10 feet in depth if there is a spring present. If no natural spring is present, the depth then must be at least 16 feet.
 
Ponds that are too shallow suffer terribly in the wintertime because not only does ice cover the surface, but also the snow accumulates and blocks sunlight. This, in turn, causes plants to die and noxious gasses develop which can kill your fish.
 
Well Stocked Ponds
A well balanced pond will have up to three types of game or predator fish, a good population of forage fish and other food, some insect life and aquatic vegetation. Forage food includes frogs, tadpoles, crayfish, and insect larvae.
 
What to Avoid
All of the following will damage or destroy a small pond environment:
• Don’t stock your pond with wild fish as this will increase the risk of introducing undesirable species into your pond. They are difficult, if impossible to get rid of.
• Avoid crappie, bullheads, yellow perch and green sunfish because they have a tendency to reproduce quickly and will overpopulate and then become stunted in a pond environment.
• Carp and suckers like to stir up the bottom of the pond. This keeps the mud in suspension, making your pond
look muddy and unappealing.
• Flathead and blue catfish will eat all of your sunfish, giving you a very unbalanced fish population in a small pond.
 
What to Stock?
Warm-Water Fish:
Bass/Blue Gill: If you have a warm water pond that is at least 2 acres, you’ll want to stock large-mouth bass and blue gills. While blue gills are considered predator fish, they are also prey for the bass. These you’ll stock at the rate of 100 per surface acre of your pond for the large-mouth bass and 500 blue gills. If you don’t stock blue gills, then you’ll need to either stock golden shiners at the rate of 200 per surface acre or 400 fatted minnows in order to have enough forage fish for your large-mouth bass.
 
Channel Catfish: If your warm water pond is less than 1 acre, stock channel catfish rather than largemouth
bass. Most pond owners give supplemental feed to their catfish to produce nice white flesh.
 
Cold-Water Fish:
If you have a cold-water pond you can stock trout as your predator fish. Most anglers prefer to fish for rainbow or brook trout. Brown trout are much more difficult to catch.
 
Rainbow/Brook Trout: The surface temperature of the water must stay below 72 degrees in the summer and be below 65 at greater depths. Make sure there are boulders and rock piles in their underwater habitat. Stock at the rate of 300 per surface acre. Trout feed on crayfish, mollusks, and other small fish and insects.
 
Reproduction
For those of you with warm-water ponds, you’ll be gratified to know that most warm-water species will reproduce. Provided that you maintain a healthy pond environment, you’ll not have to restock on a regular basis after your first stocking.
 
Cold-water pond species, i.e. trout, typically cannot reproduce in a pond environment. This requires restocking every one to three years depending on how many fish you harvest every year.
 
Transferring Fish
When your fish are delivered, they’ll be in a crate with the water from the stocking facility. In order to minimize shocking the fish and lessening the number of fish lost, take the time to properly acclimate the fish to your pond water. This means adding some of your pond water to the crate of water, gradually adjusting the temperature
of the water in the crate to match the temperature of the water in your pond. This process will take at least half an hour or more. Then, when you’re ready to release the fish, submerge the crate in the water and allow the fish to swim free. Never pour fish into the water.
 
Whether you have a small water garden with a few goldfish, a koi pond with its brilliantly colored inhabitants, or a personal fishing pond, learn the basics so that you have a properly balanced ecosystem for your fish.
 
Written By: 
Kathleen Birmingham