pond stocking -- who's savvy here?

[rdln]

I caught 20 8" largemouth from my Aunts pond that was gonna get filled in. Put them in a cooler for a 45 minute ride and dumped them in my pond, the remaining original 20 are now 17-18" with lots of other varying smaller ones.

I have tried to supplement with golden shiners which was recommended by the fish farm guy but they did not take, been meaning to try again, never had any other species naturally show up.

frogs showed up, snails showed up

oxygen is for the fish in bags in transport.

didn't you just dig this? wondering cause I was warned to let sediment to settle b4 introducing fish due dirt in gills, maybe BS?

 

[MossRoad]

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i have a 3/4 acre pond, and am looking at the following package --

3/4 ACRE POND APPROX.SIZE 180' X 180' OR 204' DIA.
75 PERCH
75 BASS
75 CRAPPIE
150 SUNFISH
20 CHL. CATFISH
10 KOI
150 SHINERS
2000 MINNOWS ROSEY RED & BLACK MIX
2 QT. DAPHNIA
75 ASSORTED SNAILS
20 FROG TADPOLES
15 BAGS & OXYGEN
TOTAL $819 NY Residence add 8% sales tax


thoughts?

i don't eat fish, so they'll just live them a happy little life there --

-- here's the site --

http://www.smithcreekfishfarm.com/

e

Perch and crappie will not do well in a small pond. Neither will sunfish. Here's why.... a body of water can support X pounds of fish life due to the nutrients available. So let's say your pond can support 1000 pounds of fish. That can be 1000 one pound fish or 10,000 1/10 pound fish, etc...

One adult female perch can lay 60,000 eggs. There will be a ton of little fish eating up all the nutrients in the pond, leaving nothing for the larger fry to grow on. All of the fish will be stunted. Perch tend to do well in larger bodies of water with good forage like shiners to feed on. Same thing goes for crappie. They do better in larger bodies of water with structure and forage.

Sunfish are inherintly small. They tend to inbreed and bring out the small characteristics of their forefathers.

Small northern ponds tend to do better with a mix of bass and bluegill or hybrid bluegill. Catfish tend not to reproduce well if there are bass in the same pond unless LOTS of hiding places are put in for them. This is because catfish babies tend to gather into a tight ball when startled... one big gulp by a bass and the whole year's brood is gone. However, if you put in some single opening clay tiles on the bottom, that gives the babies a place to hide.

If you have enough oxygen in your water you may want to consider throwing in a few rainbow trout. You can put them in through the ice in the winter and they will grow surprisingly fast into the spring and summer. They are easy to catch if you choose and if they survive the summer will be well over a foot by the end of the year.

Good luck with your pond. Sounds very nice!

 

[BTDT]

Good advice. A friend of mine who lives in town has a really nice yard with ponds, water falls all around lovelly beds. Anyway he has his ponds stocked and last fall one morning sitting at the table having coffee he said to his wife, look at those nice Blue Herrons out in the yard. Then suddenly it clicked, he tore off out side, the Herrons took off and the ponds were empty.. I don't know but I seem to think they might remember that place.

Jim

I wonder if blue herons are good to eat? Maybe taste like carp.

 

[Unregistered2013]

thank you all for this advice -- i will defintely go slow with this and ease back on the "packages" --

 

[Captinjack]

Nope. Herons taste more like bald eagle.

 

[ToadHill]

I stocked my pond in Catt county several years ago. If I were to do it again, I'd do this differently.
1. Forget the sunfish, and crappy. They will over-run the pond.
2. Increase Minnows. and stock them a year before you put in other fish.
3. Stock the pond with fish caught with the grandchildren. They will never forget that they stocked the pond. You can catch bass in almost any lake in WNY.
4. Koy do very well in our area, I put in 4 when I stocked. They were about 7" long and now are huge. They are very good at keeping the alge at bay.

 

[Dozernut]

You might check with your county USDA office, Soil and Water Conservation division. They have stocking programs for virgin ponds (no Fish in it). I went through them and stocked my pond for $27. They have a biologist on staff to advise you. They charge a nominal fee per acre size of your pond. As mentioned before do not put Crappie in your pond or Green Sunfish. Be wary of hybrid Bluegill in a small pond, they are supposed to be sterile but it has been found that 1-2% will be able to breed and their offspring will revert to the original species. You will then end up with Green Sunfish and Perch in your pond which are crossbred to make the hybrids.

 

[anthonyk]

DRSSG is right.
I dug my pond 2 years ago, didn't add anything, and this weekend caught a 4 lb bass. I see crappie and other small fish too, not to mention the huge snapping turtles.
A game warden buddy of mine said that birds move fish eggs from pond to pond as they stick to their legs. Makes sense to me.
Gotta admit, I was really surprised at the size of the bass!


anthony

 

[Raddad]

What is the water temperature at various depths during the summer?
What is the oxygen content at various depths?
What is the water clarity?
What is the PH of the water?
What is the hardness?
How much cover is there?
Various species have different requirements. I would reccomend using science not luck to insure success.

 

[MossRoad]

Nope. Herons taste more like bald eagle.

Nuke the whales!!!