An Isaan Pond

[ootai]

Mendip
You need to eat more fish and chips if you want the fish numbers to stay low.
So when you eventually get around to admitting defeat and decide to do the hard yards and drain and clean out the pond and make a fresh start make sure you have a way of easily catch any or all the fish in your pond so then you could keep the ones you want and get rid of the others, either by eating them yourself, giving them to the gardener or feeding them to the dogs.
Maybe set up a net like David showed and leave it set permanently on the bottom until you want some fish them pull it up it should catch any fish that are there as it would cover all strata's.

[David48atTD]

How can I prevent the pla nin breeding and causing overcrowding in the future if I drain and restock the pond?

The (our) Farm buys a mono-sex (male) PlaNin fry.

But the Farm is set to harvest the catch en-masse about every 9 months and want a drip feed of mature fish to play catch and for dinner.

[David48atTD]

So, if grenades are a passing 12yo's Mendip's fun, go Native?




For more, just search 'stunning fish with a car battery'

[cyrille]

So, if grenades are a passing 12yo's Mendip's fun, go Native?

Umm...what?

[David48atTD]

Umm...what?

what ... Umm?

[Mendip]

^ I must admit David, I struggled with that sentence a bit. I'm wondering if the words are in the wrong order, or if maybe there are some missing?

But anyway, I don't know what to think about this pond now... it was only ever meant to be a bit of fun and a light hobby. I never intended to 'harvest' fish, just catch a few now and again. Industrial scale netting and electorcution weren't really in my thoughts.

I've heard of these mono-sex pla nin... which is what I thought I was stocking with... but as usual in Thailand it wasn't to be.

Can you imagine the work involved to completely drain the pond, wheelbarrow out a couple of cubes of gravel (up the steep sides) and then clean so completely that there will be no remaining pla chon eggs and no pla nin eggs (that could hatch into females). All the mud in the underwater ledges would have to be removed. Every plant pot would have to be emptied and cleaned and then replanted with a new plant (which may have eggs attached). All this could take me weeks... in 38 degree heat.

I've found pla chon walking across our lawn at the end of the wet season, as the surrounding flooding dries up and they go looking for a new home. How to keep them out? I do feel foolish introducing the snakehaed into the pond, but feel that they would have inevitably inhabited it at some point anyway.

I don't know what to do.

[Shutree]

For more, just search 'stunning fish with a car battery'

I have been searching for 'stunning blonde with a car.'

Still looking.

[Mendip]

I'd be quite happy with 'reasonably attractive only child orphan who doesn't watch telly every day'. With or without car, I don't mind. But I feel that we're digressing...

[Shutree]

But I feel that we're digressing...

I have exactly the same chance of finding the stunning blonde as you do of ridding your pond of undesirable fish.

We both need to move on.

[Dillinger]

Get a contractor out and get back to doing what you're good at..

[Headworx]

I don't know what to do.

Go to Bangkok and get on the lash for a week would be my advice. The pond will still be there when you get back to procrastinate over

[David48atTD]

So, if grenades are a passing 12yo's Mendip's fun, go Native?

"So, if grenades are a passing 12yo's Mendip's fun" = Ok, the idea of grenades is that of what a 12yo might think is fun.

Not practical, not sensible ... but fun. Just what a 12yo Mendip might consider, but not the adult Mendip.

---

go Native? = is ... to do what a Thai man would do.

simples

[Mendip]

Go to Bangkok and get on the lash for a week would be my advice. The pond will still be there when you get back to procrastinate over

Thank You HW.

Probably the best advice on this thread!

[Mendip]

Get a contractor out and get back to doing what you're good at..

Must admit, Dan would look good in red!

[CalEden]

You stated in an earlier post that your pond was overcrowded which will lead to excessive fish poop which creates high nitrogen levels. This with your algae bloom is a deadly combination. After going thru a few die offs like yours I started removing the bottom sludge periodically. You need to keep your water oxygenated by running your fountain. Also if you had a uv light in line with your pump system you could use that to control your algae blooms (very effective), you don't have leave it on full time. I think your on the right track CO2/Nitrogen problem.

If running the pump is too noisy get a few small fountains and pumps to run at night. The splashing noise is very relaxing. Your pond is huge compared to mine.

When I did concrete work on my pond. The fish started jumping out of the water (breeching) like trying to escape the water. Giving me the impression there might be lye in the concrete. So I don't think you have this problem. You may want to address your fish population issue. Most of the stinky/slime sludge on the bottom is fish shit/shite and rotting plant waste.

This is the classic case example why ponds become a money/time pit. You have react immediately, your on your own, operating under best guess theory and will be just another in long trial and error learning process. More of these dilemmas to come! Good Luck!

In going back to page one of this thread to find the above post, I was astonished to realize your duaghter was just a cute little toddler when this thread started! My time flies!

I'm saddened to hear your frustration. Maybe in a tropical climate with limited time/means to control an ecosystem built on the Mendip scale is too much for one person. Maybe it's time to real in your expectations and simplify things. Get the waterwheel to aerate the pond. Maybe an annual total cleansing of fish life in the pond is the best solution (poison). It sounds like the unwanted fish are fact of life in your area and no matter what you do you cannot control them. Pick the optimum time of the year to cleanse the pond and reintroduce fish to your pond, then perform this procedure annually.

And again I have enjoyed following your pond adventures, witnessing both your childs and dog packs growth! Keep it up mate! Plenty to contemplate over 1 or 2 ciders.

[Saint Willy]

First I'll wheelbarrow out 40 odd loads of dirty soil, and then I'll wheelbarrow back in 40 odd loads of clean soil.

if only you lived in a country that had a cheap source of manual labour, or even a Gardner who could do that for you...

[naptownmike]

This worked great to solve our pond problems.

[David48atTD]

^ Bought and trucked in from the new Westerner down the road who is installing a pond?

[naptownmike]

^ Probably they say for every person digging a hole another is filling one.

[David48atTD]

Mendip got some practice in

[CalEden]

Mendip got some practice in

Now, that's the way to fish! Great Thai Safety training. High arc shrapnel in your face!

[Saint Willy]

Now, that's the way to fish! Great Thai Safety training. High arc shrapnel in your face!

thongs, T-shirt’s, no safety wall, bloody mental.

[Joe 90]

Considering another lockdown project next month.

Yes, it will be a pond .

Any advice appreciated.

I'll need a mesh cover to stop the herrings scoffing my koi carp.

[Mendip]

^ Herons will be a bigger threat mate.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Considering another lockdown project next month.

Yes, it will be a pond .

Any advice appreciated.

I'll need a mesh cover to stop the herrings scoffing my koi carp.

Perhaps if you provided some places for them to hide. Like some ornamental stones or if it is a cement pond a cup stone all the way around on the wall , with a bit of a lip extending over the pond.
We have four dogs, so I pity the birds that come to hunt by my pond. (three years I never had such problem yet) but mine is a small ornamental pond.