Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Adding Yellow Perch - How Many

My closest source has 2" YP available - minimum order 100 for $65. The pond is 1/10th acre and occupied by thousands of minnows and maybe ten trout, all 7" or larger. Should I get the 100 or wait until they have smaller quantities available?

I know the pond is too small for 100, but what would the expected mortality be as they grow?

What species of trout?

Rainbows and Goldens. I may add some more 5" trout this year cause they are so much fun.

After posting I read more of Cody's and Willis's posts about YP from way back. That is a ton of knowledge locked away in PB archives. Wow.

Our pond has very little structure - no weeds. It will have more structure soon as I am lining areas with boulders and smaller rocks - may be adding some smallmouth beds, too, although the pond is probably too small for that activity. Smallmouth would be several years out, I would think.

We feed the fish every day by hand - no feeder.

I hooked a trout yesterday on a rooster tail, which tells me that some of them are hitting fish 2"-3". It seemed like a 12"-14" fish from about six feet away, which is as close as it came to me landing it!!! So can a 12" rainbow eat a 2" perch?

Yes, a trout that size can eat 2" YP. It's a gamble, the trout might eat some of the YP, but I doubt that they'll eat all of them. If the smaller quantity of YP will be the same size, I'd stock the 100 fish now.

Ever think of putting in a cage, raising them to a larger size, then releasing them?

I would search around for some larger YP in the 4"-8" range and not having to buy "feeder" size YP for the trout. The larger ones will have a much better chance of surviving. An even better option is to get some YP that are pellet trained. These YP will grow faster and larger on some of surplus pellets the trout are eating. don't be hesitant to drive several hours to get the YP that you are seeking. Last Friday I drove 3.5 hrs to get 8"-10" juvenile walleye. I did not need any fish hauling equipment. The fish farm bagged, oxygenated, boxed and loaded all the fish. All fish arrived home in excellent condition after traveling 4 hours.

Consider that option for getting some larger pellet raised YP for your pond. Your 0.1 ac pond could hold 20-40 adult YP depending on food sources. Ideally want you want to do is raise some YP in a cage until next year's spawning season,, - release only the fat ones that are females plump with eggs. A mixed YP population without adequate predation, can overpopulate a pond when YP are abundant and food becomes limiting. Trout might eat lots of pellets and few perch?.? A group of all female YP grow fast and large and eliminate problems of overpopulation. There is lots of information here about raising fish in a cage. The cage can easily be froze into the pond during ice cover. YP with some body fat in a cage going into winter will not need to be fed during ice cover. A cage no bigger than a 55-70 gallon barrel and abt 4 ft deep can hold about 30 4"-6" YP.

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Cage Cleaning
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Bill:

Question about the trip and the fish. How many were in each bag, and what else did you do on the trip to make sure that they arrived in good condition? How were the bags transported in the vehicle (were the boxes insulated) and were they iced, etc., etc.

The few times that I've picked up bagged fish, the transportation results were less than excellent.............

Look for the next PB mag issue and an article on stocking walleye and other fish into existing waters with adult LMB.

esshup- nothing special about the fish boxing and hauling technique. Boxes were heavy weight cardbord 13"x13"x13" and double bags inside with about 2.5-3 gal of water and O2 in bag to fill bags above the vertical box top flaps. Boxes were not closed - top flaps vertical. 20 walleye 8"-10" per box. The key items were hauling temperature of the water 58F, lots of O2, and number & size of fish per box. Fish hauled inside in shade of vehicle. I even stopped for a sit down lunch and drove through a farm equipment dealership, thus it took a little longer to get home. I was getting a little nervous about the fish, but they were in great condition when I got home. Boxed fish always haul best when water temps are lower than 60F and I never haul at higher temps. I've hauled lots of boxed fish from this fish farm (Fenders) and have never lost one fish. This fish farm knows what they are doing when boxing fish for travel.

Thanks Bill. I'll keep those tips in mind if I ever have to haul bagged fish.

I purchased a few thousand fish from Fenders and probably 30,000 minnows+ over the last 2 years and all were bagged and boxed never lost any fish at all. The box's are very beefy and great for storage, the bags I used for fish scraps when harvesting fish. Normally have a 2 hour ride to the ponds from his place, stocking fish I do it in the spring or fall only.

Iceman

One other very important feature about hauling fish is how they were harvested and how long they were held in fish farm tanks before you picked them up. This is much more important than many realize. Rough, improper and naive seining and transport to the fish farm can be very stressful on the fish especially if new novice employees are responsible. Rolling fish around in the final seine pull in black mucky water is very stressful on fish. Black sediments with hydrogen sulfide are very toxic and harmful to fish. Hauling seined fish too crowded from the growing pond, repeated nettings for transfer to the growers temporary holding operation and then to the fish farm is stressful. If the fish farm holds the fish lengthy periods in tanks before final sale this is stressful. Customers do not see the dead fish that retailers pull from the tanks each morning. Netting and less than optimum boxing techniques of stressed fish can easily lead to mortality for the customer. Good, experienced, wise, and careful employees at fish farms are valuable allies to live fish buyers.

The walleye that I got from the fish farm were raised by very knowledgable growers and quickly delivered in cool water to the retailer. I picked up the fish the day after they arrived. Thus good fish farm and customer communications. All important items when buying pond stocker fish.