Containing the plant life in a pond, or any other body of water is quite critical. Why is this you ask? Simple, because for whatever reason, you’ve chosen that you don’t desire it there. No matter if these plants have generated some type of nuisance for swimming children, or have just clogged up the motor on your favorite motorboat, you wish them gone, and there are many ways to do this.

Naturally you could use chemicals, plastic lining, freezing, manual pulling, or even dye, however all of those are fairly inconvenient, and there is no promise that your pond, or fish, would actually be the same again after these actions. Therefore it’s time to look into different means—methods which won’t damage you OR your pond.

In nineteen sixty-three, a brand new fish was introduced in to the U.S. ecology, and this fish was called the Grass Carp. It was purposefully integrated into our ecosystem for the simple purpose of eliminating aquatic plants, and thus far it’s done a great job. Here in the United States, the Grass Carp is commonly called the White Amur, probably because the phrase Carp holds derogatory meanings here in the United States., and the name “Amur” is a reference to the river which the fish comes from, the river which runs the border between China and Russia.

The Grass Carp, is what’s known as an invasive species, meaning that it will multiply and overtake any ecosystem that it’s placed in (sort of like humans), however science has progressed far, and though it took a lot of time, as well as lots of gene manipulation, sterilizing the Grass Carp became standard procedure everywhere in the world so that the introduction does not harm or destroy the local ecology.

Another detail to take into account, is that the Grass Carp does not consume everything, naturally it loves plants, and would consume the vast majority of it, however just like with human being, there are things which it prefers over others. A couple of the things which the Grass Carp does like, are:

Coontail
Spikerush
Smartweed
Bladderwort
Bulrush
Water hyssop
Eelgrass

There’s many others, and a visit to the library, a web query, or talking with an expert would quickly let you know what the grass carp would consume.

When bought in large amounts, Grass Carp is fairly inexpensive, at about $10-20 per fish, which is very reasonable considering how long it will last; surviving for about 10-11 years.

In some states, you’ll need to get a license before you place Grass Carp into any sort of water, whether it is your water. To find out if this is required, talk to the game warden near you, or just examine the regulations of your state, since this information is readily accessible to anyone who needs it.

As you can see, Grass Carp are an excellent alternate means from utilizing chemicals, or even lining your pond with a plastic cover, because not only are these perfect for ridding you of unwanted plants, you must also keep in mind that it’s a symbiotic relationship, you give something that they desire, and then they give a service to you, keeping you from having to do it on your own. On the whole, this is a good deal.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Saltwater Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.