Large Mouth Bass

[rubyduby]

I have too many fish. I bought this house 11 months ago and it came with a large pond (about 44' x 18' x 3'deep) but it has about 50 fish in it. Only 2 koi which are about 12" ...the rest all look like goldfish and other small fish....I don't want a lot of fish and cannot lower the water level (on a well and the pond is about 16,000 gallons I think) and catch them and they are a little too big for minnow traps....I read on here that I can put in a large mouth bass. Is there any reason why I should not? I was thinking of just putting in one....I actually love to watch bass come up for bugs ect...Could it attack my koi?

 

[Tula]

I think you're referring to using a predator fish for population control? I've read that bass, blue gills and others can be used for this purpose. I've never done it as I worry their "nipping" and chasing, would create a stressful environment for my adult koi.

With the size of your pond, it might not be a problem.

 

[rubyduby]

I would worry about that also. That’s why I was wondering if anyone had experience doing this. I was hoping to hear that they wouldn’t bother bigger fish.

 

[Tula]

With such a large pond, perhaps Mother Nature will moderate your fish population with natural predators.....racoons, herons, water snakes, snapping turtles etc.....the circle of life.

 

[rubyduby]

With such a large pond, perhaps Mother Nature will moderate your fish population with natural predators.....racoons, herons, water snakes, snapping turtles etc.....the circle of life.

The sides of my pond are steeply slanted which makes it difficult for most predators. I had a bullfrog and was hoping he would help the situation but he seems to have disappeared. The heron took my biggest koi last fall so I put up decoys and haven’t seen one since. Now I am all for the circle of life except for water snakes!

 

[gliebig]

I just removed 20 goldfish from my pond. Small barbless hook and some hot dog pieces did the trick.

 

[Tula]

I just removed 20 goldfish from my pond. Small barbless hook and some hot dog pieces did the trick.

So they like hot dogs !

 

[gliebig]

So they like hot dogs !

Maybe because it resemble a food pellet.?
I tried bread, worms, strawberries....nothing.

 

[Cichlidboy]

I have too many fish. I bought this house 11 months ago and it came with a large pond (about 44' x 18' x 3'deep) but it has about 50 fish in it. Only 2 koi which are about 12" ...the rest all look like goldfish and other small fish....I don't want a lot of fish and cannot lower the water level (on a well and the pond is about 16,000 gallons I think) and catch them and they are a little too big for minnow traps....I read on here that I can put in a large mouth bass. Is there any reason why I should not? I was thinking of just putting in one....I actually love to watch bass come up for bugs ect...Could it attack my koi?

I have a large mouth bass in my pond and as long as there are plenty of small fish for him to eat he will not mess with the larger fish. I have a couple 3and4 inch cichlids in my pond and my bass is close to a foot and he only eats the live shiners. I add them a couple times a month but it's not good for fish to eat gold fish anyways. And bass are all different so.e are more aggressive than others they have personalities so get a smaller bass and let him eat and grow that is my large mouth next to a hand size oscar