Governing the plant life in a pond, or any body of water is very important. Why you say? Well, since for whatever reason, you’ve decided that you don’t want it there. No matter if these plants have generated a type of hindrance for swimmers, or have have clogged up the motor on a favorite motorboat, you want them gone, and there’s several ways to do this.

Of course you can utilize chemicals, plastic lining, freezing, manually pulling them up, or perhaps even dye, but these are mighty inconvenient, and there’s no guarantee that the pond, or even the fish, will ever be anywhere near what it was after such an effort. So it is about time to have a look at different methods—techniques that will not break your back OR the pond.

Around nineteen sixty-three, a new fish was introduced in to the United States ecological, and this fish was called the Grass Carp. This fish was deliberately introduced into our ecosystem for the simple reason of eradicating  aquatic plant life, and so far it’s lived up to it’s reputation. Within the US, A Grass Carp is often called a White Amur, presumably because the word Carp holds negative interpretations here in the U.S., and the word “Amur” is a reference to the river which the fish comes from, the river which borders China and Russia.

The Grass Carp, is what’s referred to as an intrusive species, meaning that it will reproduce and take over any ecosystem that it’s placed in (sort of like humans), but fortunately science has come far, and while it took some time, as well as lots of gene manipulation, sterilizing the Grass Carp finally became standard procedure everywhere in the world so that it’s integration doesn’t harm or destroy the ecosystem.

Another detail to take into account, is that the Grass Carp doesn’t eat every kind of grass, of course it loves plants, and would eat most of it, however just like humans, there are items which it prefers more than others. A couple of the things which the Grass Carp will enjoy, are:

Coontail
Spikerush
Smartweed
Bladderwort
Bulrush
Water hyssop
Eelgrass

There’s several others, and a quick trip to a library, an Internet query, or a consultation with an expert will quickly reveal what the grass carp will consume.

When purchased in large amounts, Grass Carp is fairly inexpensive, ranging from about $10-20 per fish, which is perfectly reasonable when you consider how long it will last; surviving for about ten to eleven years.

In some states, you will be required to acquire a license prior to putting Grass Carp into any body of water, whether it is your water. To find out if that’s necessary, speak with the game warden in your area, or just check the laws of your state, since that info is freely accessible to anyone who requires it.

Clearly, Grass Carp are an excellent alternate means from utilizing chemical compounds, or even lining the pond with a plastic cover, because not only are they great for ridding you of undesired plants, you must additionally remember that this is a symbiotic relationship, you give something that they desire, and in return they provide a service to you, keeping you from needing to do it yourself. On the whole, that’s a great exchange.