Exotic Coldwater Fish?

[Brewster320]

My father has a spring fed pond on his property and him, his neighbor, and I have been working on cleaning it up by cutting down some trees and removing the thorn bushes and stuff around it.

Right now there's no fish in the pond and only some plant life and 3 turtles( a red ear slider and two painteds). I've taken on the challenge of stocking and planting it. For fish I want to add fathead minnows, pumpkinseed, and maybe some largemouth. But I was wondering if there was any Coldwater exotics that I could possibly stock in there just to add something different.

For size its probably 70ft by 30feet (estimate) and 5 feet at the deepest point maybe more. If it makes a difference the pond doesn't freeze over during the winter due to the fact it's spring fed so the water is warmer than usual for a zone 5 pond.

And opinions would be great. Thank you!


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[MN_Rebel]

Personally I would stocked some unique coldwater species such as Redfin or Grass Pickerel, Mud Sunfish, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish or uncommon small coldwater species such as mudminnows, pirate perch, studfish etc... are you interesting to have some gamefish in there?

 

[Moontanman]

My father has a spring fed pond on his property and him, his neighbor, and I have been working on cleaning it up by cutting down some trees and removing the thorn bushes and stuff around it.

Right now there's no fish in the pond and only some plant life and 3 turtles( a red ear slider and two painteds). I've taken on the challenge of stocking and planting it. For fish I want to add fathead minnows, pumpkinseed, and maybe some largemouth. But I was wondering if there was any Coldwater exotics that I could possibly stock in there just to add something different.

For size its probably 70ft by 30feet (estimate) and 5 feet at the deepest point maybe more. If it makes a difference the pond doesn't freeze over during the winter due to the fact it's spring fed so the water is warmer than usual for a zone 5 pond.

And opinions would be great. Thank you!


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What do you mean exotic? If you are talking about a fish from another watershed it would still be iffy, if the fish or it's off spring could conceivably get out of the pond they could cause trouble. then there is the problem of disease, in many respects the possibility of releasing new pathogens, new parasites is the most dangerous part.

 

[MN_Rebel]

^unless the spring is isolated or cut off from any waterways, it's unlikely that an "exotic" organism can get out to spreading some deadly pathogens/parasites. Plus he stated that there are no fish in that pond. Plus it is on a private property.

My guess by the exotic, he means something different beside largemouth bass, pumpkinseed/bluegill and bait minnows (which these are popular fish species for stocked ponds)

 

[mattgreene]

Rainbow darters are pretty cool looking in my opinion.

 

[Brewster320]

By exotic I mean unusual fish. Something different than what you'd usually expect whether it hails from the US or not. And it's an isolated spring fed pond do the chances of escapes and contamination are about as likely as from a backyard koi pond.


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[Ozarker]

^unless the spring is isolated or cut off from any waterways, it's unlikely that an "exotic" organism can get out to spreading some deadly pathogens/parasites. Plus he stated that there are no fish in that pond. Plus it is on a private property.

This is an interesting issue. Consider this: 20 years ago I built a 1 acre farm pond with no live inflow, only rainwater runoff, and 1/2 mile from the nearest stream. I did not stock it but within 2 years I began to see minnows and sunfish. How did they get there? My guess is that eggs and/or fry were carried in on the legs or feathers of waterfowl, herons, ducks, etc. My experience is not unique. It proves that at least some species are capable of colonizing new bodies of water without an active inflow.

 

[Runitis]

Chinese hi fin shark (aka freshwater batfish)

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[Brewster320]

This is an interesting issue. Consider this: 20 years ago I built a 1 acre farm pond with no live inflow, only rainwater runoff, and 1/2 mile from the nearest stream. I did not stock it but within 2 years I began to see minnows and sunfish. How did they get there? My guess is that eggs and/or fry were carried in on the legs or feathers of waterfowl, herons, ducks, etc. My experience is not unique. It proves that at least some species are capable of colonizing new bodies of water without an active inflow.

So if I did a non-natives It'd be best doing some that wouldn't breed in a pond type environment.

Chinese hi fin shark (aka freshwater batfish)

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Would they survive in zone five? I've seen some debate about that.



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[gary grice]

Elopichthys bambusa...the ultimate cold water exotic