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We have had a couple of interesting things
happen in the natural pond in our backyard the last two summers.
We have lived here 19 years and these are both firsts. Last
summer, after a heavy rain, we found over twenty crayfish
in our inground swimming pool which is about 60 feet from
the pond. This happened twice. What would cause them to want
to enter our pool?
This spring we looked out and could see
an orange glow in the pond and found there to be well over
100 goldfish that are six to eight inches long in the pond.
We live in Minnesota and the pond's deepest point is four
feet deep, it is 300 feet long and 100 feet wide. We do know
that a neighbor put five goldfish from their home aquarium
into the pond last summer. Would these goldfish have reproduced
and grown this large in this short amount of time? What will
happen to them? Will they continue to multiply at an alarming
rate? (The pond is also treated monthly from May through September
to prevent the growth of algae and other weeds and is not
a DNR controlled pond.)
Thank you, in advance, for any insight
you can give us to these happenings with our pond!
The Johnsons
Hi!
The crayfish didn't invade, they were there all the time
in dormant eggs. The conditions were right, and they hatched
and matured. Don't worry about them, they are a natural
(and tasty!)part of your pond's ecology, though with all
the algaecides you are dumping in I don't think they are
very good for you. Here's a great
article about them.
The goldfish have no predators, yet. They will attract herons,
egrets and raccoons. They will spawn two or three times
a season and each spawn will yield 10,000 eggs per female
fish. Within two or three seasons, your population will
be dense enough to encourage disease and a mass die-off.
If this is truly a natural pond, get some bluegills in there.
They'll eat the fry and eggs, and are native to the area.
Small perch or maybe a bass or two could also work, though
bass usually need colder and moving water that your pond
can't supply.
Bob Passovoy
President
MPKS
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