As living creatures, fish know about the birds and the bees just like other animals. Suddenly one spring, your 4 ten inch fish are joined by 10 more one inch long fry. They begin eating and start to add the inches. Then comes the dilemma.

You already figured that your pond could only handle the equivalent of 4 ten inch fish. Now you have 10 little guys who will soon be bigger guys. What do you do?

If you just ignore them, before long, you will see an increase in the algae in your pond. You will see more fish die over the winter. You might also begin to see diseases rear their ugly heads.

So, you need to remove some of those fish. If you are lucky, you will have friends who are just starting a pond and can use some free fish. More likely, they already have more than they need too. What then?

DO NOT DUMP THE EXTRA FISH IN A POND OR STREAM IN A LOCAL PARK OR ANYWHERE ELSE!!!!!! Many of the fish we grow in ponds are not native to the U.S. and their release will result in one of two things. Either they will live and begin competing with local species or they will die because they are not adapted to local conditions.