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Re: letter


i read your letter with interest. i'm interested in everything that would
grow in a small pond in the south, tennessee in my particular case. we
restored (excavated and sealed with 3' of clay) a spring fed pond that dried
up several years back due to huge influx of people into the glade. we're now
pumping water from an underground lake. the pond is about 3/4 acre in size
and about 8 to 10' deep at the deepest part.

we live in the cedars of lebanon state forest. the land dried out about 300
million years ago and is laced with limestone caves. there are at least two
major openings on our 40 aces. i would imagine that the old pond had been
here for thousands of years judging from the topography. there are plants
that grow here that only appear in a few other places. lichens and cacti and
eastern red cedar. tennessee has more variety of native fishes than any
other state in the usa (and more on the endangered list too).

there were no fish in the pond when i bought the place about ten years ago.
it was a haven for snapping turtles and frogs. it was dry for at least five
years before we helped it out. the first good rain we got 4' of water in the
deep hole and within three days two turtle heads popped up. we introduced
100 green sunfish and bluegill fry into the pond. robt rice emailed me his
teriffic essay on the restoration of his lake. this was my only guideline.

there are now three generations of sunfish and bluegill 14 months later. the
original fry are now almost hand sized. the wonderful thing about this
entire process (with the exception of the baby copperheads) is the
underwater plant life that now covers all but the deepest bottom. there are
at least four variety of frogs including bull frogs (new this summer). we're
at least a half mile from the nearest life supporting creek, five miles from
the stones river and a huge lake. frogs can hop, snakes can crawl and
turtles can hole up in the deep mud i hear but how do the plants get there.
were their seeds living in the dried pond bottom that we dozed out and then
spread back out after the deepening and sealing??

now the thought of invertebrates!!?! thanks for the information.

-=tabb=-


>Here is the complete text of a letter that was published in Aquarium Fish
>Magazine in August.  Some of you might be interested, I wrote it but they
>edited it for space I guess.  Freshwater inverts are a large interest of
mine,
>as in marine aquariums freshwater inverts could be a big part of our
displays.
>
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