Hello.

What would be the ideal size of a small pond to raise about 6000 Yellow perch larvae until about the end of September, then these 4-5 inches perch will return to the big pond to feed the Smallmouth bass.

This small pond will communicate directly with the big pond.
Everyting will be done with light from one pond to another.

A+

Since you have experience growing YP in mini-ponds, your guess would be as good as any member here. A pond 30X40ft at 3 ft deep with seep sides has 1200sqft and close to 13300gal. This gives each fish 2 gallons. I wouldn't expect all 6000 fry stockers to survive to 4-5" due to cannibalism and natural mortality. If you started with 6000 fry I say you are doing very good to get 1000 YP in fall. This gives each fish 13.3 gal to grow in. If the pond has a flow through flow when fish reach 1", the pond could be smaller with less water volume per fish. If you try it please keep us updated to your progress.

Hello.

Thank you Mr.cody.
I am autodidact and I like to have the opinion of an expert before making other mistakes.

As I already did with oil to kill predatory insects (Diving beetle, Backswimmer ext.....) but I killed my larvae to.

I should put this in the post (Your biggest mistake) for members who would like to try the oil.

A+