Cecil, can u please explain the difference in the hybred crappie over the Blk or White? Advantages of one over the other? My plans are for a trophy LMB pond and to do so they lmb have to have plenty to eat. I would think the lmb would keep the crappie in control, even though they compete for the minnows? I have read over and over where you do not want to add WC or BC but when reading where someone like Pat has lmb that seem to take over his BC pond? Anybody? Why would the lmb not feast on the crappie?
Tracy
Tracy, here is the scoop on
Hybrid Crappie .
The problem I see is that the Crappie will reduce the total available forage in the water that you want going toward YOUR goal of growing "big bass".
Tracy, Assume caloric intake and growth would be identical, regardless of forage sizes eaten...if a Crappie or LMB has to eat 10 pounds of minnows to grow to 1 pound, and gets eaten by a "big bass". That Bass would have to eat 10 Crappie to gain one pound, or, in essence, the bass ate 50 pounds of minnows to gain 1 pound. In theory, adding Crappie would cause your LMB to consume 5 times the food to gain that one pound.
In reality, the theory is wrong, but illustrates why I think Crappie would reduce LMB growth. Both Crappie and LMB need forage in the optimum size to reach the 10 pound forage to 1 pound growth potential. Finding a forage fish that grows to an optimal size for your LMB, and does NOT compete with the LMB is best. Threadfin and Gizzard shad fill that space, but those fish pose other risks also.
LMB foraging on pellet fed BG or CNBG along with Tilapia and trout will get a far better food to flesh conversion....maybe as good as a 3:1 conversion rate.
Tilapia convert quality pellet feed at a 1.2:1 rate, BG/CNBG at a 4:1 rate and trout at a 3:1 rate, while feed trained bass at a little over a 4:1 rate.
The benefit with Tilapia, trout and BG/CNBG, all readily take pellets, and are easily managed posing little risk along with growing quickly, and in large quantities to an optimal size for LMB to forage on efficiently...the only real downside is the wallet thickness.....
