daphia and Hydras

[Moose1am]

Did you ever wonder why crappie take the tube jigs so well? Check out this link to see why.



http://ebiomedia.com/gall/classics/D...hnia_feed.html

Note the size of these micro organisms (crustaceans). They are tiny. If you ever wonder how well crappie can see then think about how the find and eat this small animals.

Also think about how these small phytoplanton and zooplantons are effected by the sun. They rise and sink with the rising and setting of the sun. Increasing sunlight may make organisms that these zooplankton feed upon rise and sink in the water column. Algae can only grow when it has sunlight to give it energy. These small zooplankton feed on the algae and these in turn attract minnows and then the crappie.

Winds that blow the floating algae around create currents in the lake and not only do these winds blow the floating plant life around the lake and concentrate it on the windward shores but they also may blow the zooplankton around to the same shorelines.

If the wind is blowing out of the south for three days in a row then the SURFACE currents will be moving North with those Southernly breezes. When the surface water runs into a North shore line it will curl under and flow back down the slope to the bottom of the lake or sideways along the bank. The northern shore line will have new food brought to that area and the fish will follow. While most crappie fishermen are trying to get OUT OF THE WIND the fish are going to the windward banks to feed. Boat control can be the critical factor when fishing these windy shorelines. Being able to keep the boat in the right position and going slow enough to keep the fishing lines hanging at the right dept is key. Wind socks or anchors can be use to control the boat and put you in the right spots. Trolling can work if you troll slowly into the winds. Anchoring over the drops and brush piles wil work also

The entire ecological process is started with the SUN's energy

Today and yesterday my crappie were feeding very good. The pressure had risen to 30.2" of Hg and it didn't stop my crappie from eating those chub minnows that I threw into their aquarium. In fact yesterday I feed them in the morning and then again that evening and they feed agressivley both times. Eating every minnow that I put in their tank. They feed on the last three minnows this morning and the pressure was dropping. I have found that my captive crappie eat no matter what the air pressure is doing. If they are hungry they are going to feed the second those minnows are put in their aquarium.

Note in the link above the picture of the hydra capturing the daphnia water flea. Does that micro organism not look like a tube jig? Crappie feed on these hydra's when they are very young. Don't you think that they can remember feeding on these tiny organism as young fish and then when they grow up to be big crappie they would jump on a bigger sized Hydra ( Southern Pro Jig body)? I think they do. Just makes sense to me.

BTW you need a binocular microscope of about 10x power or more to see these tiny aquatic animals. They are that tiny. A pond is full of these small zoo plantons. These are the food source for many fish living in the water.

[Moose1am]

Here is some more information regarding zooplanktons

http://www.cnas.smsu.edu/zooplankton/collage.htm

[Moose1am]

Some more information and color pictures of Phytoplankton and Zooplankton.


http://ednag2.limnol.lu.se/GertrudC/GChome.html

[Moose1am]

More Phytoplankton pictures

http://www.cedareden.com/phyto.html

[Moose1am]

Not only do the phytoplankton effect the dissolved oxygen content but it effect the amount of carbon dioxide in the water which in turn effect the pH of the water and the amount of Ammonia and nitrites in the water.

You see one thing effects something else which in turn effects something else down the line.



http://www.uaex.edu/aquaculture2/FSA/FSA9070.htm

[Jerry Blake]

Hey Moose:

If you're trying to observe the affects of weather changes (which barometric pressure changes are an indication of) your crappie need a constant supply of food like I suspect they have in most natural settings.

From my experience while scuba diving bait fish and predators all seem to congregate in the same area and appear to co-habitat quite well - apparently until one of the predators decides it's time for a snack.
I think crappie feed to some extent every day, but they definitely feed more aggressively some days than others and at different times of day than others. I suspect that crappie that haven't had anything to eat for a day or two, whether in captivity or in the wild, will eat under a wide variety of conditions.

Put enough minnows in with your crappie so they always have the opportunity to feed if they want. Then record the barometer reading every hour and how many minnows are missing – have been eaten.

Then you may have an idea of what affects weather changes have on the feeding habits of crappie, although the ones in your tank have likely adapted to their new environment and may not react to weather changes like they would in the wild.

[Cane Pole]

I thought dissolved oxygen was O3 caused by ultraviolet light. Good stuff O3.

[Moose1am]

Guys and Gals:

I have been feeding these crappie plenty of minnows for over a year now. At times I dump 2 dozen minnows in the aquarium and see how fast they disappear. But it's hard to count them as they( minnows) won't hold still. LOL They normally will last about two to three days.

The last two days I have been wanting to watch the crappie feed. I just don't want to sit there and watch them 24 hours in a row. I would need a volunteer to help me as I have to sleep sometime and would need someone to work the second shift.


What I did the other day was dump about 15 minnows in the aquarium and watch the crappie feed on those minnows. Each crappie received at least 3 to 6 minnows to eat. I dipped out about 4 minnows at a time and dumped them into the tank and waited until they were all eaten before getting 4 more minnow and repeating this procedure. I stopped putting minnows in the tank when the crappie stopped feeding.

Then, that afternoon, about 6 hours later, I feed them again. I feed them until they stop eating the minnows. By the next morning any of the few minnows that were left the night before are gone.

What I like to do is to see if they are going to feed at times of high air pressures. This is my main interest. We already know that they feed right before a front comes though and we know that the air pressure drops right before a front arrives normally. But we also know that increased cloud cover also accompanies a cold fronts approach and that the air temperature drops when the front arrives. I want to know if rising air pressure will stop them from feeding. It does not from what I have observed for the last year and 2 months of performing this experiment over and over again with countless feedings.


Crappie in the wild have to hunt for their food that is correct. They have to hunt for smaller fish or ambush them. Here in my aquarium the fish have it made. They get fed plenty of minnows and they don't have to swim far to eat.

VERY IMPORTANT information coming up next!




The point of this entire thread with the posts about the phytoplankton and the changing CO2 and O2 and pH levels had to do with the rising and setting of the sun not the changing air pressure.

Guys what I am trying to tell you is that the sun is the reason why fish behave as they do. The sun is the reason that the air pressure changes also. It's the changing light levels that starts and stops the food chain not the changing air pressure.

All those algae can't produce any food without sunlight. They would freeze in the dark without the sunlight. In fact evey night when the sun goes down the algae stop photosynthesis and stop producing Oxygen and increases of CO2 in the water begins. The ration of O2/CO2 decreases.

The depths (very deep dark water) are devoid of sunlight and therefore plant life. You normally don't find submergent vegetation growing below 15 ft in stained waters)

When the sun goes down the Oxygen levels in the waters start to decrease as the night goes on and until the sun comes back up the next morning. Oxygen levels are at their lowest in the very early morning hours right before the sun rises. CO2 levels start to rise when the sun goes down do to the respiration of Algae's and other organisms in the water. With a decrease in Oxygen and an increase in Carbon Dioxide the pH of the water changes to acid. Blow though a straw into some water and watch what happens when you add CO2 into the water. The ph will drop substantially. Carbonic Acid is forms when CO2 enters the water and even though Carbonic Acid is a weak acid it will drop the pH like a rock.

Discounting the effects of Alkalinity the water is most acidic right before the sun comes up and it's most basic when the sun is high overhead and the CO2 is being taken up by the Algae and oxygen is being generated full blast.

Changing pH levels can effect where the fish are found in the Water column.

Tom, your's and My PVC crappie trees won't work if there is no sunlight reaching them. They need sunlight to get the Algae to grow on them.Without the Algae growing on their surface they won't attrack the zooplankton and the minnows and the crappie as well. You might think about putting some Phospate in the water around your dock and in your brush piles. Phospate and or Phosporous is a limiting nutriet and without it the water is not going to have lots of algae or plant growth. So add some Phosphate to your dog food buckets to increase the fertility of the water by your dock's brush piles.

But without sunlight reaching the surfaces of the wood in the brush or the surfaces of the PVC pipes you won't have much algae growing on them. The algae growing on the suface is the key to attrackting the minnows food and the minnows.

The only thing I can think of that changing air pressure could effect is the amount of dissolved gases in the water. Particial Pressures are involved here. Increase the air pressure and you are also increasing the partial pressure of the Oxygen in the air. An increase in partial pressure in the air will increase the amount of Oxygen that can disolve in the surface waters. But, those changes in the oxygen levels on the surface waters have to pail in comparision to the amount of oxygen that the plant life puts into the water when the sun is shining brightly. And if the water temp drops with the cold front that means that the cold water will be able to hold a little more dissolved oxygen. I have read that a drop in temperature of just one deg F can effect the fish drastically. We know that fish will migrate long distances upriver to find warmer waters. We know that the fish will be found on the North Shorelines in Spring due to the sunlight shining on this area longer than it does on the south banks. Also the North banks are protected more from the cold north winds. If the north shoreline is one or two degress warmer the fish will find that warmer water and hang out there and avoid the colder waters of the south shorelines. Water temperature changes are caused by the influx of warm air masses which are in turn caused by increased sunlight or increase energy from the sun heating the ground and warming the air masses. Again it's the sun that is running everything. The sun heats the earth and drives the winds. The changing winds and the differential heating of the earth's surface is what causes air pressure differences on the earth and the winds.



Now I am not sure, but air pressure could effect where the zooplankton is located in the water column.


I KNOW that light effects them. (Zooplankton and Phytoplankton's locations in the water column) I know that these critters are very light sentitive and rise up and down in the water column according to the time of day. Diurnal cycles are PREDOMINATE in NATURE and they affect where in the water column the zooplankton will be. These creatures will swim up or swim down according to changing light conditions and they do this ever day no matter what the air pressure outside. They are driven by the amount of sunlight entering the water column.

I would like to see someone plot the amount of sunlight, UV-a and UV=b rays against the number of fish caught during those different times.

Correlate where the fish are found vs the amount of sunlight in those areas.

There are scientific instruments that can measure the light intensity and we can figure the angle of the sun at different latitudes pretty easily at differnt times of the day.

I am not saying that don't behave differently before a front comes though or that they don't behave differently after the front comes though. We all know that fish can be very finicky after a cold front. But what I am saying is that this behaviour is caused more by the changing sunlight and water temps than it is by the changes in air pressure. Air Pressure changes are related to the changing sunlight which can confuse people into thinking that it is the reason why the fish behave differently.

Wish I could explain this better to everyone. Not sure how else to explain it.

Now how can we seperate the effects of the changing sunlight and changing air and water temperatures away from the changes in air pressure to prove this point? Get a big aquarium that has constant lighting and constant water temperatures (held within one deg F) and then change the air pressure above the aquarium and experiment with some hungy crappie in the aquarium.

[unknown 5]

I do know for a fact that the wind direction does affect where the predator fish go to feed and fishing where the wind is blowing in is good fishing, especially after the wind has blown in the same direction for several days.

It has been my experiance big crappie bite best at twilite hours, either at dawn or at dusk. I am not sure if the phytoplanton cause this, I suspect it has more to do with them being able to ambush prey better during the twilite.

[Boscoe]

Moose the areation and filtration on your tank may be offsetting the changes that occur in barometric pressure and the fish aren't feeling the changes. I keep some crappies for over a year once and they seemed to become aclimated like goldfish to my feeding methods. They would pretty much ignore me untill I came around with the worm cup or minnow jug and then they would start hunting. I think to replicate crappie in the wild would require a large tank with full enviroment of algae, zooplankton,cover and maybe even predators to keep the crappies in their portion of the enviroment.
On the subject of crappies feeding on zooplankton and such we have done a bit of stomach content searching and it seems that the crappies here eat alot of small stuff like scuds, grass shrimp and insect nymphs. My buddy opened up a 2 lb crappie caught last spring and it had a 1/2 a cup of scuds with strings of algae still attached, the scuds were about the size of a flea. It may be because the lakes here don't have a large population of minnows and this was pre spawn and fry of other specices were not available. I tied some scud patterns and they seemed to work good on pre spawn fish, actually caught larger fish than on jigs or minnows. My buddy thinks the crappies eat the small stuff because it's easier to catch and that the crappies can stay in one place and fill up. It make sense when you think about how and old fallen tree with a few limbs and algae growwing on it will produce better than a fresh fallen tree with lots of cover.
I would suggest looking in the stomachs of a few of the crappies through the seasons and see what they are eating do like the trout guys and "match the hatch"