Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Help me adopt my fish family

Bski says ""It sounds as if BG are so dang prolific that they can set imbalance way to quickly and readily. Why is this not also true of YP and RES?""

Almost any fish, depending on the species and without proper predatory pressures, can relatively quickly overpopulate. As always numerous variables affect the balance and outcome.

Theo in his post above, explains why RES tend to be significantly less prolific compared to BG. It has been documented in literature that mean number of eggs for females (6.8"-7.8"long) of RES is 16,000 compared to BG 58,000; a 3.6 times fewer number for RES.

YP can be quite prolific and if you stock them you can expect to see their egg mass ribbons draped on your Condo Structures in late March to early April. One of the features of yellow perch is they remain an elongated fusiform shape their entire life. Elongated shapes are easy for predators to swallow and a 6" YP has only 1.3" body height vs a 6" BG or RES having an ave 2.5" body height. Thus YP are vulnerable to predation from predators with smaller mouth gapes for a much longer time period compared to BG. When planning a fisheries community, it is important to consider all aspects of ethology for each species. Ethology - study of the behavior of animals in their natural habitat often considering evolutionary explantations.

Since you plan on eating some fish from your pond, RES will be good a helping minimize common nuisance fish parsites that can make fish fillets unappealing. Be aware that RES will not readily co-operate for anglers as BG do. But the YP in normal compared to very rare densities will always be willing to bite baited hooks.

Sunil says- 1. "" I wonder if Brettski can get SMB without an overpopulation of SMB. It would just seem sad to me if he had smallies, but all were like 12" or so"". 2. "" I also think that when a smallie gets to 14 & 15" and greater, it eats a hell of a lot of fish in the 3-7" range.""

1a. It will me much easier to prevent and manage an overpopulation of SMB compared to LMB. Bski's problem will more likely NOT be overpopulation but too few SMB due to common nest failure of SMB. As mentioned previously Bski needs to closely monitor YOY and juvenile populations of SMB and YP; his two likely biggest variables. Management duties, as in every fishery, may include thinning or or supplimental stocking.

2a. A much too general statement without some proof or several references. I am not so sure that once a SMB gets to Sunil's target length of 14"+ that it "eats a hell of a lot of fish in the 3-7" range". Compared to what? As always, it all depends. Numerous studies have contraicted Sunil's statement; however one can always find exceptions. The general opinion from food habit studies for SMB, is they eat lots of crayfish and invertebreates and smaller sized fish. Several food habit studies of larger (13"+) SMB found larger fish had the highest percentage of empty stomachs compared to SMB smaller than 13", which causes one to question them eating "a hell of a lot of fish". Several studies found insects remained an important portion (20%-78%) of the diet of SMB as large as 20" in lentic habitats (still water). Commonly, studies have shown that fish play about a 47%-50% part of the SMB diet across a wide size range of individuals. Several studies, including some from the very diverse food base present in Lake Erie, have shown crayfish to be the most important food item. Due to the behavior of SMB, and IMO, when crayfish have at least a common occurrence, the crayfish and not fish will predictably be the dominant food item of larger SMB. However as in many feeding habit studies, numerous species of fish are opportunists and will consume whatever is most readily available, at any particular time, be it fish, bugs, or crayfish. In many cases fish diet often changes dramatically with season due to food availability. Some of my reference information came from The 1st International SMB Symposium. 1991 D.C. Jackson editor.

It is all about GOALS. Bski said he is not about trophy predators, so crowded, smaller sized predators will work fine for him. Always consider the specific pondowner's Goals.

Ewest, I had no problem with YP recruitment in the presence of an abundant Gshiner population. YP recruitment did not significantly decline until green sunfish became established.