Fishy Business, Part 2 "The Bucket List"

Here is the "rest of the story" about pond fish pick-up day. It is a story about Man v. Nature, or Man Helping Nature...there are always two sides to every story, eh?

 

Side 1: In our opinion, green algae is the scum of the earth (er...pond...), going against our intent to provide a pond for nature and our own enjoyment. Scum seems to be the 'natural state' of many small ponds, but humans who 'own' the ponds do not like it, and thus muster up a battalion of soldiers (fish) to annihilate the microbes.

 

Side 2: Because scum interferes with the health of a pond, Man, in his infinite wisdom, helps nature along by bringing in fish bred in captivity to bring a wholesome balance to the eco-system.

 

I don't know about you, but I vote for side # 2!!!

 

Marcheta *casting her vote to real 'em in!

 

 

 

With the truck loaded with plastic bag lined buckets, Jim and I headed over to Bucyrus to the Crawford Soil and Water Conservation District office to pick up our pond fish.

 

We were lucky because there was only one person in line when we arrived, and he was almost done getting his order. People began arriving fast, and by the time we were loaded, there were nine vehicles in line waiting.

 

The first order of business was to give our "bucket list" to the woman in charge of filling orders. The fish came from a pond fish hatchery, and were loaded on the back of a pick-up truck. Thank goodness, it was not raining!

 

The man on the truck handed the fish to one of the women, who transferred the fish into one of our buckets, filled with our own pond water. The second woman then filled the bag with air and tied it shut. This is the reason the buckets needed to be lined with plastic bags...it helps kept the fish in the water on the quick drive home.

 

 

Our bucket list included two White Amur (to eat excessive foliage), 50 Redear Sunfish,  and 100 Largemouth Bass. The pic below is of the White Amur.

We were instructed to go straight home and get the fish in the pond ASAP. The following pics show the process. We are hoping that our fish like their new home, get along with the bullfrogs, and have many feast days provided by the green scum that is messing up our pond.