|
Grass Carp Stocking Grass carp provide very effective long-term biological control of a wide range of nuisance aquatic vegetation. In the state of Georgia along with several other states throughout the country, only triploid grass carp are allowed for stocking. Triploid grass carp have three sets of chromosomes which makes the grass carp sterile. Typically, grass carp provide up to five years of effective aquatic vegetation control. Once grass carp become large in size, their metabolism slows down and they do not consume many weeds at that point. Because of this and the fact they are sterile, it is critical that the grass carp are periodically re-stocked in order to control any aquatic vegetation. Typically, when the grass carp are re-stocked you can re-stock them at a lower rate than the initial stocking. Grass carp prefer and are the most effective in controlling submersed weeds. The following list provided by the University of Georgia shows which aquatic weeds grass carp prefer: Feeding preferences of grass carp on some common aquatic plants.
Grass carp should be stocked at the following densities to achieve effective biological control of aquatic vegetation and algae:
Depending on the severity of the aquatic weed infestation, the stocking rates
listed above may need to be increased in order to control the aquatic weeds.
|