Thursday 17th April 2008.
Today I finished the first four mud ponds for the start of this seasons breeding. You may remember that I said a while ago, that I shall start spawning this year at the far end of the tunnels, pond 14, 13, 12 and 11 are now ready for filling.
Someone asked on the forum why I rotovated the bottoms of the mud ponds. This is an important aspect of providing the best environment for the new born fry, last year these same ponds were used for the same purpose. When fry are born they have no immune system, this means they have no natural defense to any water-born pathogens.
So to increase the chances of fry survival, any bacteria or parasites left in the soil from the previous year must be killed. Drying the ponds completely is the most effective way of ensuring this has been achieved and rotovating gets this drying process just a little deeper into the soil.
As the fry grow, slowly they get used to any 'nasties' as they develop in their pond and build a natural defense against many.
Here is one of the ponds near completion.