Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Blue gill survival rate in established pond

I added 50 blue gill 3-5 inches range into an est pond that's about 3-4 acres. There seems to be a ton of channel cat and a few LMB. But no one seems to catch any blue gill. How can you get them established? And how many of those 50 survived the summer? I've been feeding the cc so maybe that would cut down on their predation. Any info helps. Thanks

alockdown,

It's not possible to really know how many survived. There are a lot of variables affecting survival. Among them conditions at time of release to include the water quality then and the condition/stress of the BG when they were released. To have good survival from the predation perspective would depend on the size of and quantity of the predators (both population structure and biomass are important).

So one thing I would like to mention is that the stocking rate of BG/Acre is very low (<15/acre and less than 1 lb/acre). So the initial biomass of BG when they were introduced is only a small fraction of the biomass of the LMB and CC. Therefore, it wouldn't surprise me if you are not noticing them even if all were to have survived. Even so, it is implausible at all survived but so long as enough BG of both sexes survived and some of their offspring survive predation ... the BG population will grow over time. Snipe very frequently offers these wise words "Be patient".

On the other hand, it could be that none of that stocking survived. There is really no way to know for sure this early in the game. This is because it is not possible to find "non-evidence" of the survival rate. Seeing is believing, for example, where not seeing doesn't constitute evidence of absence. It works just like faith. So if you've lost faith, you could restock the BG but I would offer this piece of advice. Use adult BG next time with a minimum length of 6".

Ok yea the fish farm near me has only 3-5 range as the biggest u can buy

Good advice. Thanks for the info.

Do a search on the forum for habituation and one for blocking nets or cages to protect the BG until they get to 5 inches.

Adding 50 small BG probably didn't have a big effect as you can assume 50% or more were eaten as forage.

I'd try adding batches in the hundreds until you see a solid population of adults showing up to feed.