Should You Use Grass Carp For Aquatic Plant Control?
Mastering the aquatic plants within a pond, or in any body of water is extremely important. Why is this you say? Well, since for whatever reason, you have decided that you don’t want it there. No matter if those plants have generated a type of hindrance for swimmers, or have just clogged up the engine on your favorite motorboat, you want them gone, and there are many ways of doing this.
Naturally you can use chemical substances, plastic lining, freezing, manual pulling, or perhaps even dye, but those are fairly strenuous, and there is no guarantee that the pond, or fish, would ever be the same again after such an effort. So it is about time to look into alternative means—techniques that will not break your back OR your pond.
Around nineteen sixty-three, a new fish was introduced in to the U.S. ecological, and this fish was known as the Grass Carp. It was purposefully introduced into the ecosystem for one reason of eliminating aquatic plants, and so far it has lived up to it’s reputation. In the United States, A Grass Carp is commonly referred to as the White Amur, presumably because of the fact that the phrase Carp has derogatory meanings here in the United States., and the name “Amur” is a reference to the river which the fish comes from, the river that borders China and Russia.
The Grass Carp, is what is referred to as an intrusive species, indicating that it will reproduce and take over the ecosystem which it’s placed into (similar to humans), however science has come a long way, and while it took a lot of time, as well as a lot of gene manipulation, sterilizing the Grass Carp finally became standard everywhere in the world so that it’s introduction does not hurt or eradicate the ecosystem.
An additional thing to note, is that the Grass Carp doesn’t consume everything, of course it enjoys plant life, and will consume the vast majority of it, but just like humans, there’s items that it prefers more than others. A couple of the items which the Grass Carp will like, are:
Coontail
Spikerush
Smartweed
Bladderwort
Bulrush
Water hyssop
Eelgrass
There are many additional grasses, and a quick trip to the library, an Internet search, or talking with an expert would quickly let you know the things a grass carp will eat.
When purchased in large amounts, Grass Carp is fairly inexpensive, at about $10-20 per fish, and that is perfectly reasonable when you consider the years of service it will give you; surviving for about 10-11 years.
In some states, you will need to get a license before you place Grass Carp in any sort of water, even if it is owned by you. To discover if this is necessary, talk to a game warden near you, or simply examine the laws of your state, as that information is readily available to any person who requires it.
Clearly, Grass Carp are an excellent alternate means to using chemical compounds, or even lining your pond with plastic, since not just are they great for ridding you of unwanted plants, you should additionally keep in mind that this is a symbiotic relationship, you give something they want, and in return they give their services to you, keeping you from having to do it on your own. On the whole, that’s a great trade.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 4:48 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.