Most would advise putting the forage in first and giving it time to reproduce (many types of forage, FHM only one type possible) and then when forage has a foothold add the hungry mouths. However, you have to first decide what is the forage backbone of your pond and this is determined by your 'growing season' in TX and also what your predator or predators will be.
Unless you like to eat (repeatedly keep up on harvesting) CC I read of very few people on this forum who are happy that they stocked CC. If it isn't something you will fish aggressively for to remove then you should be careful to think about the future.
Many in Tx find that tilapia are the backbone of their forage when they are trying to feed LMB. If you want a LMB fishery then there are many experts who can tell you how many BG or HBG to stock, how many TP, and when.
Here in a northern pond nothing grows or reproduces if you stock it now so it is kind of a moot point if you stock now or in the spring if your pond is empty.
Also predation and balance is way different now when I assume you have no vegetation (a new barren pond) compared to if you put forage in that could be eaten by predators but you balance that out by having plenty of vegetation for the forage to hide in.
As for the surface spray, this helps the top few inches move/exchange gas and can help in summer but you can't call it effective aeration unless it is moving the water on the bottom. If you are in the high heat district in TX you may need both.
Last edited by canyoncreek; 11/06/18 11:11 AM.
