Should You Use Grass Carp For Aquatic Weed Control?

Managing the plant life within a pond, or any body of water is very critical. Why is this you ask? Simple, since for some reason or another, you’ve decided that you do not desire it there. No matter if these plants have create some type of nuisance for swimming children, or have have simply stopped up the motor on your favorite boat, you want them gone, and there’s several ways of doing this.

Of course you can use chemicals, plastic lining, freezing, manually pulling them up, or perhaps even dye, but all of those are fairly inconvenient, and there is no guarantee that your pond, or fish, would ever be anywhere near what it was following such an effort. So it’s time to look into alternative means—methods which won’t break your back OR the pond.

Around nineteen sixty-three, a brand new fish was introduced in to the U.S. ecology, and this fish was known as the Grass Carp. It was deliberately integrated into our ecosystem for one reason of eradicating  aquatic plant life, and so far it has lived up to it’s reputation. Within the US, A Grass Carp is often referred to as a White Amur, probably because the word Carp holds derogatory interpretations here in the U.S., and the name “Amur” is a reference to the river that this fish originates from, a river which borders China and Russia.

The Grass Carp, is what’s known as an invasive species, meaning that it’ll multiply and overtake the ecosystem which it’s placed in (sort of like humans), however science has progressed a long way, and while it took a lot of time, and a lot of gene manipulation, sterilizing the Grass Carp finally became standard procedure all over the world so that the integration doesn’t hurt or destroy the local ecology.

Another thing to note, is that the Grass Carp does not consume everything, naturally it loves plants, and will eat most of it, however just like humans, there’s things which it prefers over others. A couple of the things that the Grass Carp will like, are:

Coontail
Spikerush
Smartweed
Bladderwort
Bulrush
Water hyssop
Eelgrass

There are several additional grasses, and a visit to a library, a web query, or a consultation with a professional would quickly reveal the things a grass carp will eat.

When bought in bulk, Grass Carp is pretty inexpensive, at about $10-20 for each fish, which is perfectly reasonable when you consider how long it’ll last; living for about ten to eleven years.

In some states, you will be required to acquire a license prior to putting Grass Carp in any body of water, whether it is owned by you. To discover if this is necessary, talk to a game warden near you, or simply examine the regulations of your state, since this information is freely available to any person that requires it.

Clearly, Grass Carp are an excellent alternative from utilizing chemical compounds, or lining the pond with plastic, because not just are they great for getting rid of undesired plant life, you must also keep in mind that this is a symbiotic relationship, you provide the thing that they desire, and then they provide a service to you, keeping you from having to do this on your own. All in all, this is a good deal.