Comments on: How tolerant are pond animals of lack of oxygen?

By: Jeremy Biggs

Jeremy Biggs — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:47:52 +0000

Hi Barry – I have to say we’re not fisheries experts. Fish people in the Environment Agency, or other fishery manages might be better at answering this question.

For what it’s worth in theory I’d say Crucians should survive anything the weather can throw at them: the survive zero dissolved oxygen for months (they are truly exceptional creatures in this respect: one of the toughest in the world), and live out the winter under ice in Finland. Tench, I’d guess, will be less hardy but being pond fish are presumably reasonably tolerant. However, they do die of lack of oxygen, or simply the cold, in smaller garden ponds.

As to feeding: I’ve no experience of that. For us, fish are wildlife and have to live with what nature provides! But presumably, once the water warms up in spring they’d be in a position to make use of the feed to do something with it and put on a bit of extra weight.

Hope that helps a bit

Jeremy

By: barry mackintosh

barry mackintosh — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:37:49 +0000

I am Club Secretary of a private syndicate with three on line ponds in north yorkshire.approx one acre.The oxygenated water is stream fed & supports brown trout.We have recently restocked with crucian carp 6inch & 2-4inch tench. in the empty smallest/last pond in line.The average depth of 4ft with some deeper corners.My concern is to their survival chances following the severe winter.I would appreciate any advice as to how confident to be of them withstanding the harsh conditions,and when to begin an intensive feeding programme to increase growth.

By: jonspond

jonspond — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:41:27 +0000

Some references
Comparison of nitrate tolerance between different populations of the common frog, Rana temporaria
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0166445X0000182X
Avoidance of anoxic water by tadpoles of Rana temporaria
http://www.springerlink.com/index/L427848T874K0028.pdf
The population ecology of a self‐maintaining colony of the Common frog (Rana temporaria)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1969.tb02162.x/abstract
Hypoxia tolerance in reptiles, amphibians, and fishes: life with variable oxygen availability
http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev.physiol.69.031905.162529
Tribute to RG Boutilier: The role for skeletal muscle in the hypoxia-induced hypometabolic responses of submerged frogs
http://publish.uwo.ca/~jfstaple/West%20et%20al.%20JEB%202006.pdf

Just a few papers I have found by searching on google

Can we find the answer we are looking for?