Pike pond

[BinhLyz]

I'm not sure why you'd want to do it. You'll never be able to see them. Many wild fish have beautiful markings from the side but from the top they are camouflaged to blend in with their habitat. Nature designed wild fish to not be seen from above by predators. And you'll be viewing from above, and you'll have a hard seeing them, if at all. That's why koi and goldfish were bred for bright colors to be seen from above. Seems to me like a lot of work for not much viewing enjoyment.

You got a point. I didnt think they were so hard to see. Maybe i should go for koi fish instead.

 

[Lisak1]

We visited a pond once where they had originally stocked game fish. Not only were they hard to see, they also hid 100% of the time. Goldfish and koi are very sociable - much more adapted to garden pond life.

And somehow it seems kind of cruel to put predator and prey in such a tiny environment - too much advantage to the hunter vs the hunted.

 

[BinhLyz]

It was not the plan that the bass would surivive anyway. It was for feeding my Pike. But ill guess i just drop that idea.
Thanks for answering. I think i go for koi fishes.

 

[Mmathis]

@BinhLyz If my calculator is correct, 3mx3mx1m is 9’x9’x3’. When I ran that through a pond size calculator, it comes out to 1800 (give or take) gallons. Even for koi, that is barely enough room for 1, maybe 2 koi. Koi have very specific environmental requirements, one of which being meticulous filtration. A dedicated koi keeper with a lot of knowledge and experience might keep a few more koi than that, but they are constantly monitoring their water parameters and adjusting when the water gets even a teeny bit out of normal range!

If you’ll look back to post #2, I explained about how keeping captive fish is different from fish-in-the-wild. It is totally up to us humans to provide an acceptable , artificial living environment for captive fish. You can’t just dig a hole and put something in it — you have to maintain it, as well. And you have to care about the animals you are keeping!

I don’t mean to sound rude, but I am getting the impression that you are just here to argue with us. We look on our fish as our pets, and we look out for their well-being. When we give you answers and suggestions, there is science behind what we say, as well as a concern for the fish you want to keep. We encourage any new pond keeper to gain as much information as possible about the fish and the requirements for the animals they want to keep. I believe I Also mentioned that in post #2. I’m sorry, and I might get booted from GPF for saying so, but I don’t get the vibes that you are serious about the health and well-being of the fish.

 

[Ax01]

How many acres is your garden and how many of them will become the new pond? It sounds like you are planning a fishing pond, not a garden pond, if you are looking to stock pike. Garden ponds and fishing ponds have different needs. According to sport fish stocking resources, for a pond 1 acre in size and at least 8 feet deep, you should only stock 2-4 pike per surface acre. So just keep in mind that if you stock with northern pike or muskie, they eat any other fish in the pond, and they have to be fed other fish. For muskies (closely related to northern pike, but bigger), they recommend only 1-2 fish per surface acre, some guides say that you can have up to 4 northern pike per acre while others stick to no more than 2 per acre. Keep in mind that you can't stock just pike: they have to eat something, so you have to not only consider the two pike an acre can support, but also the stock of something they will eat (like bass) and since they eat constantly and aggressively, you will likely need to restock that food source repeatedly unless the food source fish is well established before adding any pike. Guides say pike eat bass, and to stock 50 bass per acre. Logically, that seems to imply that you can stock half pike and half bass, at half the rates, so if it's max 4 pike, and max 50 bass, you should be able to stock 2 pike and 25 bass in a single acre pond. You'll also need to stock something to feed the bass though. You will have to continually restock them if you choose minnows alone, but it can be done. Many resources say to stock minnows to feed bluegill, stock bluegill to feed bass, stock bass to feed pike. What it boils down to is how many acres is your pond, and if your answer is less than 2, it's just not practical to stock it with pike because they require so many other fish be stocked to support them. They also reportedly do not do well in small bodies of water, preferring large lakes. Most sport fishing ponds require aeration, which can be read about at https://americansportfish.com/services/pond-maintenance/aeration and http://www.dunnsfishfarm.com/aeration.htm.

Resources:
https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/pike.html
https://www.aquaticbiologists.com/fish-stocking/
https://keystonehatcheries.com/blogs/gamefish/general-fish-stocking-recommendations
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/tiger_muskies_to_stock_or_not_to_stock_okeefe16

wow, great research (and kudos, it's not even your pond) and wow, what an in-pond food chain that would be!