I stocked my pond last fall with BG and I am worried that they are not spawning. I have not seen any nests and i believe the fry I'm seeing is FHM. Some of the BG are pushing 8 inches so size isn't a problem. Is it possible that BG can't spawn in chara? My pond is .5 acres and has chara everywhere except the middle. Thanks in advance.

I have never seen a bg nest in my pond which is now 2 and a half yrs old with lots and lots of bg in it and I see a lot of bg fry during spawning times. I bet they are or will be spawning.

Thanks TGW1. Does anyone have a picture of BG fry so i know what to look for?

Good news! found a nesting male just 4 feet from shore.

Sorry, I have no picture but they look just like a bg but smaller. Easy to tell between them and a fathead minnow and not so easy when comparing a red ear, But when they reach the 1/2" size, it is fairly easy to tell because some will have those bg markings. Maybe someone else will post up a picture for u.

BG beds

Thanks for the nest pic ewest I'm just worried because i don't have that type of flat sand beds for BG spawning. I guess I'll just have to wait and see if they are successful.

for what its worth...I transferred almost 50 7-9.5" bluegills to my pond with 2/3 of those being males. I haven't seen any of those males on beds this spring-summer while all of my native 4-6" bluegills are spawning like crazy.

These are the fry i have all over the shallows. It would be great if they were all BG but i want a second opinion before i become to ecstatic.
I apologize for the size i had to make it fit under 2mb

Looks like BG to me, but that one is pretty small.

They are that's why i was skeptical, but on close inspection it has dorsal spines so it isn't a FHM which was the only other suspect

Sunfish fry for sure, if all you have in the pond are BG then that's what they are. At that size it's hard tell the difference between different types of sunfish.

Here is a picture of a BG fry from my dad's old pond.

SF fry are growing! Also caught a stickleback yoy so I thought I'd post it to. Any ideas on species?

Looks like Brook Stickleback. I am looking at caudal peduncle.

Thanks i agree 100% but does anyone have a guess on the sunfish fry?

Green Sunfish Lepomis cyanellus.

I see that pic of all them BG bedding and all I can think of is my GBH would have a field day with them.... YIKES!!! I think that's what happened to my bigger RES.... I bet he got em that ole buzzard...

RC

Biggest SF fry yet! Pretty sure now that it is a GSF.

Looks like mine, open the little mouth on it and it will surprise you. Its like a funnel. I have been amazed at the size of some of the mouths on them. You can easily see why all the experts here say they are in direct competition for forage with your LMB. I used to remove all we caught...but after more research from the guys here I have embraced them. I can't get rid of them all...maybe the LMB will eventually thin them and give my BG a shot...but I'm sure I'll have no pure BG...probably mostly HBG. I'm sure I'll have to restock some adult BG...maybe next year...then every year or so after that until I know there is enough forage for my LMB.

The GSF are a hoot to catch...the bigger ones will make you think you have a much larger fish on...they bite anything which makes them great for young kids...oh yeah, they are feed hogs too. When I was feeding optimal last year the GSF that had been eating looked like pot belly pigs! lol

I've also noticed about spawning, the GSF will get as close to the water edge as possible...in inches of water. We had a really dry spell last year and I had beds come out of the water as the pond slowly dropped.

If there are decent #s of both BG and GSF they well both tend to segregate. There will be some crosses but the large majority will be BG or GSF not crosses. This assumes good numbers of each species and sufficient spawning space.

I've been catching those green potbellied pigs myself. Yesterday I caught so many, I got tired and went to the house. I no more than quit then realized it was time to feed, so I went back to feed and they swarmed the feed like bees!

Thats nice to know. Not trying to hijack the thread but, I stocked 200 BG last year...they were 2-4", 50 RES, 25 LMB, 10# FHM...but that was before I knew what was in the pond. Wish I would have read more here before stocking...lol. Have learned SOO much. Maybe I will eventually get some decent BG. We might catch 1 to every 10 or 15 GSF. Our pond was full of GSF. Who knows how many of the BG and RES actually made it. I'm sure time will tell.

I got plenty of food for the little buggers. My pond is very fertile, filled with bugs, frogs, tadpoles, brook sticklebacks, FHM so I won't worry about competition for food. Just hope that some BG spawned because I haven't seen a SF fry that was 100% BG. All I'm seeing is GSF.

Well that was one reason I was trying to pull my GSF. From what I have read they are a lot like Blue Jays. They will raid the BG nests and since they roam the same waters as the BG and they are so aggressive they will eat many of the BG fry. When that happens your LMB never get to take advantage of the BG. I'm worried thats the case in my pond as we have SO many GSF. Never knew what they were until I was informed one day when I posted a pic of one of my "bluegill" and was informed it was the ever so popular green sunfish. lol.

Please someone correct me if what I just said was wrong...it was what I read, I would love to think I was wrong and maybe my BG are still alive and well and just hard to catch.

Peachgrower,
If you could stock some additional adult bluegill in your pond, they will out spawn and outcompete the GSF. About 50 or so adults per acre.

Can you do a seine survey ? That will help tell the results. A few adult BG could help your situation. There should be plenty of young adult BG this fall at the AR hatcheries.

Thanks so much guys, I'm seeing a highjack take place, sorry dragon, not my intention. lol. I'll start this on another thread.

I did the exact same thing. I don't know if anything except the Catfish survived, but I doubt it in my case. I'm still hopefu, but I know all the FHM were just a snack. Never saw a one after stocking.