How To Get An Endless Supply Of Food From Your Pond

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How To Get An Endless Supply Of Food From Your Pond

Written by: John Cagle How-To N

Image source: Wikipedia
If you have considered cutting the ties that bind your homestead with the unpredictable future that correlates with grid dependence, then you’ve probably also thought about how you would sustain your family’s dietary needs.
You have already stocked up on plenty of food, water and various supplies to protect your family in case of a grid-down emergency. But you know as well as anyone else does that if the grid stays down for too long, then those supplies are not going to last, and you will have to think of other ways to ensure that your family stays fed.
If you are already living on a homestead furnished with a pond, then you are living with a valuable resource. Having a productive watering hole with a bountiful fish population to supplement your family’s food needs can be a priceless commodity, but if you don’t keep a close eye on it, a lot can go wrong.
Making sure that your pond is providing your fish with a healthy place to live is crucial. Let’s go over some pond basics, so that the next time your water begins to darken or your fish begin floating to the surface, you’ll know exactly what to do.
How Your Fish Breathe
Many people living with ponds nearby don’t consider all of the natural variables that can have a drastic effect on the health of that pond. Just like we rely on plants to provide the air with oxygen for us to breathe, ponds rely on aquatic plants to provide the water with oxygen for the fish down below.

The most common aquatic oxygen suppliers for most man-made fish ponds are phytoplankton and zooplankton. Both of these types of algae are essential to the life of the pond. Through photosynthesis, these aquatic creatures release vital oxygen into the water that fish need to survive. If a pond’s oxygen levels begin to fall off, then the fish will become stressed and die.
So how should a pond owner determine if oxygen levels are at their optimal levels? A simple visual observation of a pond’s water can tell a pond owner a lot about its health.
Many people think that green water isn’t clean water, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing when it comes to fish ponds. If your pond has a light greenish tint to it, then odds are that plankton levels are at their best and your pond is receiving adequate oxygen from the photosynthesis that these plants provide.
If your pond has large areas where the water looks dark or black, then you may have an issue with expiring plankton. When a large bloom of plankton dies, it will appear as a large, dark mass in your water that can cause oxygen depletion – which will ultimately affect your fish population. If you suspect that your pond is suffering from a large loss of plankton, then it’s important to make sure that harmful runoff isn’t making its way into your water. Hillside runoff and chemicals are usually the culprits for expiring pond blooms….MORE HERE

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