An Isaan Pond

[Neverna]

Snakehead fish are nice fish to eat. I prefer them steamed.

[Mendip]

^Funny that.

They can live in virtually any water like a catfish and also live out of water for quite a long time. I read up on them a lot early on as I am an avid fisherman and wanted to know what to use to piss them off being they are an aggressive predator fish. They seem to be annoyed by a medium depth shad type rattle plug. You reel it by their school of fry they are protecting and they attack. There have been documentaries about them attacking people that inadvertently swim near their fry.

Since you wrote that I've spent 10 minutes here and there trying out some plugs that I originally bought for sea fishing. No luck as yet.

I stocked four pla chon about the same size as the one Yogi caught a few years ago and I think they could be pretty big now, post 109 shows the moment of madness (An Isaan Pond). I know they've been breeding as I've seen a few pla chon fry.

When I was netting out the dead tilapia during our disaster a couple of weeks ago, I noticed several had their back ends missing. I have a feeling we may have some really big pla chon in the pond now and I'll need to get rid of them.

[HuangLao]

Snakehead fish are nice fish to eat. I prefer them steamed.

....with the appropriate accompaniment of floral herbs.
Lovely earthy/muddy way about it without be overpowering.

[CalEden]

It might be a good idea to pump it dry, get rid of all the sludge and the predator fish. Then start over.

[ootai]

It might be a good idea to pump it dry, get rid of all the sludge and the predator fish. Then start over.

My thoughts also and while its empty make a low catchment area for the sludge so in the future it is easier to pump it out regularly.

As usual something simple here turns in to a major project?

[lom]

As usual something simple here turns in to a major project?

He's got plenty of time for it now.
Come on Mendip, just do it!

[Mendip]

It might be a good idea to pump it dry, get rid of all the sludge and the predator fish. Then start over.

Yes... I've been coming to that conclusion myself... slowly.

On the plus side, we have a catfish tank and a frog enclosure, both of which are a couple of metres cube and could be used to hold the good fish while the works are going on.

On the bad side... an awful lot of work and an awful lot of refilling with no rain in sight to help for a long time. The first time we filled we had a few water trucks to help, which I think wasn't that expensive.

Also, unless the base is scrubbed clean and maybe even disinfected I'm not sure we would get rid of the pla chon (predators), and here's why. Our land was raised maybe 0.7m before building and every wet season (apart from the last two) we have had standing water around our land... a bit like living on an island. Within a few weeks this standing water will be alive with tadpoles, and also pla chon fry. I have no idea where the pla chon come from, but every year they come. My only guess is that their eggs survive in the soil for months, if not years, until the next rains arrive. Remarkable really, especially when considering this soil is baked as hard as concrete for months on end in 35 plus degree heat. I think when considering this, it would be nigh on impossible to completely eradicate the pla chon eggs. Also, at the end of the wet seasons, as the water surrounding the house dries and recedes, I have often found small pla chon 'crawling' across our garden as they try and find another water source. Even without my stupidly stocking our pond with these buggers, I think they would have turned up anyway.

Also, we have had a thriving tilapia population prior to the current water quality problems. Maybe some control by the predators has been a good thing?

My thoughts also and while its empty make a low catchment area for the sludge so in the future it is easier to pump it out regularly.

Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing! The pond is lined by 4" reinforced concrete. While a low catchment area is a great idea, I think it may have to stay as just that. I can't really see a feasible way to make a low catchment area without cutting out a section of existing reinforced concrete (maybe 2m square), digging out a low beneath, and then re-lining with reinforced concrete. It's 40 degrees here just now, must be close to 100% humidity. I was drenched in sweat this morning just after cleaning out the chickens! The thought of hammering and cutting through reinforced concrete at this time of year fills me with horror.

As usual something simple here turns in to a major project?

Ain't that the truth!

He's got plenty of time for it now.
Come on Mendip, just do it!

Yes Lom... thanks for reminding me


My current plan, is, as usual, a compromise.

Next week I plan on a major operation of pumping out the sludge until the pond is only about half full. once the level is down I'm going to temporarily remove the pot plants, and then remove as many pla chon as possible. I've got one of those throwing nets with weights around the edge, and I've often fancied trying it out. Once all this is done I'll probably get a few water trucks in to fill up the pond as quickly as possible. If these measures last another few years I'll be quite happy. Also, in the future, regular sludge pumping will be the routine... maybe every couple of months.

[baldrick]

google sludge pumping first

[Mendip]

Thanks Baldrick.

I looked up 'sludge pumping', full of trepidation that I was being tricked into viewing some kind of niche gay porn site, but found loads of websites about pumping out sludge from ponds.

Like everything else... a lot more to it than first meets the eye.

The pump I have does get blocked occasionally due to all the solid matter, but so long as I keep jiggling it about it unblocks and generally keeps working. I don't really want the expense of buying a made for purpose 'sludge' pump, so maybe I need to walk around each patch first, kicking my feet about to agitate the mud before I pump it out, but then that stirs up the bottom and brings up the mud to the surface. It never ends.

[panama hat]

Can you not rent one?

[Mendip]

^ That's a very good point... it would also be good to use a pump with a much higher capacity than the one I have.

I'll check in town tomorrow.

[panama hat]

That's a very good point

PH Happy. PH got praise. PH

PH retire now

[ootai]

Originally Posted by ootai (An Isaan Pond)
My thoughts also and while its empty make a low catchment area for the sludge so in the future it is easier to pump it out regularly.

Ain't hindsight a wonderful thing! The pond is lined by 4" reinforced concrete. While a low catchment area is a great idea, I think it may have to stay as just that. I can't really see a feasible way to make a low catchment area without cutting out a section of existing reinforced concrete (maybe 2m square), digging out a low beneath, and then re-lining with reinforced concrete. It's 40 degrees here just now, must be close to 100% humidity. I was drenched in sweat this morning just after cleaning out the chickens! The thought of hammering and cutting through reinforced concrete at this time of year fills me with horror.

As usual something simple here turns in to a major project?

Mendip
Why do you have to cut through the concrete? You could just place some concrete blocks around in the bottom of the pond to form a "sump" area where you could then pump the sludge from. All you would lose is a bit of pool volume but I don't think that would hurt much.

I really don't think you have to do too much different from what you were doing before as it took 7 years to turn bad. Just a few tweaks is all that is needed.

As for the snakeheads have an impact on the number of fish in the pond, I reckon it obviously doesn't matter as you had plenty of fish in there until you committed genocide!

[David48atTD]

PH Happy. PH got praise. PH

PH retire now

Hang in there PH Dobbie ... wait till your Master throws you a sock ... you puppet

[Mendip]

I was again fishing for the pla chon this afternoon using lures similar to JPPR2's suggestion, but to no avail. I know they're in there so it's quite frustrating.

I did foul hook a nice pla nin which was good as it shows there are still some big tilapia still left. I threw it back to keep the numbers up. I think my pla nin have been through enough for the time being.

I found this old fish trap in the workshop and dug around in the bottom of the freezer for some bait... found some little frozen catfish the wife must have had plans for.

I invited the littlun to help me set it all up... gutted... she said she'd rather play Roblox on her pc, can you believe. So it was just me, Dan and Yogi. I have a feeling Yogi understands what's going on; he's turning into a real little hunter.



Can't wait until the morning now and reckon I'll be up before the alarm. This has brought back memories of setting night lines for eels when I was a kid.

[Mendip]

It was a perfect morning for catching a fish... overcast and cool.

A bit of pre-school excitement for the littlun... as she pulled in the fish trap. Watched on by Tommy...

[Mendip]

Nothing...

Bait untouched. These pla chon are proving difficult to catch.

[lom]

Maybe you should try to bait with peas?

[VocalNeal]

How about some small paddle wheel aerators to help with oxegenating? I've seen some in the klongs in Korat so I suppose they must work to some extent.

A smaller version of this, perhaps.

I've seen small ones which have integral solar panel.

[David48atTD]

Maybe you should try to bait with peas?

Sorry Mendip

[Mendip]

Maybe you should try to bait with peas?

To be honest Lom, I don't think you're taking this altogether seriously...

But anyway... luckily I've done my pea stockpiling already... and there's always a few emergency leftover peas in my fridge!

... and I wanted to relocate the fish trap anyway...

So here we go... and a couple of Brussel sprouts to boot!



Yogi makes his inspection...



Naah... that's what he thinks of using peas for bait!

[David48atTD]

Try hanging a light above the trap (just in the air) ... be interested to see what swims/crawls in.

Just a bulb on a wire on a stick ... nothing fancy

[Mendip]

^ That can be tomorrow's tactic!

I need to spread out all these pastimes if I'm to have several months in Korat...

[David48atTD]

This is the general idea. Our nets are obviously different.

[Mendip]

A bit of pre-school excitement today. Must admit I wasn't that optimistic using Lom's recommendation of peas and sprouts for bait, but I left a couple of fish in the net, just in case...

The daughter pulled in the fish trap...



And...






Nothing!







A ridiculous suggestion Lom, and this look is just for you...



Back to more traditional baits tonight... we only did this to appease you!

Yep! I'm here all week... well all bladdy year by the looks of things with this coronavirus!