French mill pond needs TLC

[Maddie]

Hello,
Just got new responsibility - 150ft x 80ft mill pond full of wild carp and need help to develop it to be pretty and wildlife friendly. People tell me I can't have flowering plants because of the fish?

The pond is big enough to have a small rowboat on it. The depth varies between 2ft and 6ft and it is fed by a small stream which flows through it. Only part of the bank goes down to a 'beach'. Mostly the edge is a stone faced 6ft high earth bank. I can't see how to have a 'shelf for placing plants' that I read about.

Any ideas , tips or suggestions?

 

[addy1]

I don't know about wild carp, but koi are carp and they tend to dig up plants, muck around on the bottom and eat all plants they can. Carp are bottom feeders and like to dig. So if wild carp are like koi carp then it may be difficult to have plants with them, unless you find some they don't like the taste of, or put enough in they can't destroy them all.

from the net
wild carp
Common carp are omnivorous. They can eat a vegetarian diet of water plants, but prefer to scavenge the bottom for insects, crustaceans (including zooplankton),crawfish, and benthic worms.

Due to their fecundity and their feeding habit of grubbing through bottom sediments for food they are notorious for altering their environment. In feeding, they may destroy, uproot, disturb and eat submerged vegetation causing serious damage to native duck and fish populations, like canvasbacks.[sup][20][/sup] Similar to the Grass Carp, the vegetation they consume is not completely digested and rots, raising the nutritional level of the water and causing exsessive algae growth. They destroy nests of other fish and eat their eggs, reducing their numbers significantly.

 

[Maddie]

Gosh! Thanks for your swift reply.

Do you manage to keep plants in with your koi and if so, which species?

I am concerned that there appear to be no plants at all growing in the pond and the surrounding vegetation seems to be all nibbled back. I have been feeding the fish but would prefer to end up with a balanced pond that would take care of itself.

 

[addy1]

I don't have koi in my pond, just goldfish and shubunkins. I can have a bunch of plants, they do not bother them at all. Lilies, iris, grasses etc.

You could possibly put marginal plants in, i.e. along the edge of the pond, one site mentioned water grass. If you have the resources you could try to add a lot of floating fast growing plants, that some call ponds weeds, they might be able to withstand the carp snacking. Water primrose grows along the margin, floats and grows out on land. Has nice yellow flowers. Water mint grows really fast, purple flowers, land, floating or marginal.

 

[Maddie]

Thats very helpful. I will have a go as you suggest and let you know how the pond progresses.

 

[addy1]

If you can find anyone there that has a pond with carp see what them have growing and surviving. Start by putting plants in the shallow areas, maybe the fish will stay out if it is shallow enough, get the marginals growing. Ornamental grasses sometimes do well in ponds. Rush is some tough grass like plant that grows in shallow type water, wet land. It might do well with the carp, grows a huge root mass.

 

[sissy]

welcome and cattails do good also .

 

[j.w]

Maddie

 

[Maddie]

Thank you all for replies and good advice. I am off onto the internet to read up about cattails and rushes.
Love the fishy welcome too!

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forums Maddie! :goldfish:

 

[HARO]

Maddie; the fact that there is no vegetation in the pond should be a hint of what to expect! Wild carp will destroy any plant you can put in there if there are enough of them. Your only chance lies in reducing their numbers to the point where a few hardy plants may actually have a chance to survive.
John

 

[Maddie]

Thanks John, you probably have saved me some money! I will not buy waterlilies, irises etc.

I shall try to encroach inwards from the banks, using only wild plants which I have been kindly offered from another old mill where they are clearing their pond and stream.

 

[Maddie]

Oh! P.S. I now know what cattails are. We call them bullrushes.

 

[Waterbug]

Because you have a stream running through the pond, I assume you mean not powered by a pump, plants wouldn't be a benefit to the pond. So you'd be adding them only for looks which is fine. Just didn't want you to think the plants would improve the water quality.

I have been feeding the fish but would prefer to end up with a balanced pond that would take care of itself.

What does "balanced pond" mean?

 

[Maddie]

Hi Waterbug,
The stream is natural, no pump. It moves through the pond very gently.
I want plants for looks but also for wildlife. A couple of moorhen and a mallard duck family live on the pond in the small patch of vegetation opposite the house but I would like to encourage other birds, insects, amphibians etc. Surely more plants would help for example, as hiding places from the carp?