Should You Use Grass Carp For Aquatic Plant Control?
Controlling the plant life within a pond, or any body of water is very critical. Why you ask? Simple, because for whatever reason, you’ve decided that you don’t want it to be there. No matter if those plants have create some sort of nuisance for swimming children, or have just clogged up the engine on your favorite motorboat, you want them gone, and there are several methods of doing it.
Of course you can use chemicals, plastic lining, freezing, manual pulling them up, or even dye, however all of those are mighty inconvenient, and there is no promise that your pond, or fish, would ever be anywhere near what it was following such an effort. So it’s about time to have a look at alternative methods—methods which won’t break your back OR your pond.
In nineteen sixty-three, a brand new fish was introduced in to the United States ecological, and that fish was called the Grass Carp. This fish was purposefully integrated into our ecosystem for the simple reason of eliminating aquatic plant life, and thus far it has lived up to it’s reputation. Within the United States, A Grass Carp is commonly referred to as a White Amur, probably because of the fact that the word Carp has negative meanings here in the U.S., and the name “Amur” is a reference to the river that this fish comes from, the river which runs the border between China and Russia.
The Grass Carp, is what is referred to as an intrusive species, meaning that it will reproduce and take over the ecosystem that it is placed in (sort of like humans), however science has come a long way, and though it took a lot of time, as well as a lot of gene manipulation, sterilizing the Grass Carp finally became standard procedure everywhere in the world so that the introduction does not hurt or eradicate the local ecology.
An additional thing to take into account, is the fact that the Grass Carp doesn’t consume everything, of course it loves plants, and will eat most of it, but as with human being, there are things that it enjoys more than others. A couple of the items that the Grass Carp will like, are:
Coontail
Spikerush
Smartweed
Bladderwort
Bulrush
Water hyssop
Eelgrass
There’s several others, and a quick trip to a library, an Internet query, or a consultation with an expert will quickly reveal what the grass carp will eat.
When bought in large amounts, Grass Carp is pretty cheap, at about $10-20 per fish, and that is very reasonable when you consider how long it’ll last; surviving for around 10-11 years.
In certain states, you will be required to acquire a license before you place Grass Carp into any body of water, whether it is your water. To discover if that’s required, talk to a game warden in your area, or just check the regulations of the state, as that information is freely available to any person who needs it.
Clearly, Grass Carp are a great alternate means to using chemicals, or lining your pond with plastic, since not just are these perfect for ridding you of undesired plant life, you must also keep in mind that this is a symbiotic relationship, you give the thing that they desire, and then they provide their services to you, keeping you from having to do it on your own. Overall, that’s a great exchange.
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