Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain New pond questions

Im a new user with a new pond. I have several questoins I will address. Any help would be appreciated. My pond filled up in march. It is 40 yards wide 50 yards long and 15ft deep in the middle. I have stacked pallets on 3 corners, 3 large submerged tires on the dam side a rock pile on the dam side as well. I have also a 5ft x3ft "cage" i submerged to let the minnows in and predators out. We stocked the pond with 1000 fathead minnows and 50 bluegill in early april. Luckily, we have a very small pond just beside our new pond full of mature fathead minnows. We have caught and stocked approx 300 of those as well, which have not spawned and the pond is full of fry. I have put in 5 catfish approx 6lbs each, 20 largemouth bass 11-14", 10 large hybrid bluegill, and 15 or so adult bluegill. Here my questions. 1 month ago, while the minnows were spawning i noticed some mud in one corner of the pond. One of the large bigger bluegill then floated to the top. I suspected possible a turtle below making the mud and wake. The bluegill was dead. Today, there were 4 dead bluegill. They are also adult, 3 had been eaten on, and one was not was not. I have not been to the pond in 3 or 4 days and coons may have eatern parts of them, but Im not sure. Just after the minnows spawned, and against my wished, my father added blue dye to the pond. I was concerned it would not allow the pytoplanton to live and thus kill my minnow fry. However, there appears to still be a large amount of minnow fry in the pond. Is the dye good or bad? Finally a fish truck will be in the area friday. We are planning to purchase more bluegill, and redear, minnows and 50 catfish. I can get the bass later and not getting any more at this time. My pond water temp has been 74-77 degreees. So, why did my bluegills die? Is the blue dye good or bad? And what else should I do? Oh, yead, the catfish and hybrid bluegills regulartly take food on the top. We have another pond that has a feeder and they are well adapted. We feed them every 2-3 days in our new pond. Thanks!

Wow!! You've certainly asked some good questions, and I'm not the guy to give the answers. The pros will be here shortly to help you out, but I do have a couple questions.

I think you really need to determine exactly what you want from your pond. Large GB pond, excellent LMB pond- what??

Does the pond you're stocking currently have existing fish?
If it is a new pond, I would stock with 1-3" BG, some RES, and many pounds of FHM. You might get some adult BG from surrounding ponds or lakes. I think this gives a pond a good balance of gene pools in your fish. I don't think I would put any LMB or CC in until you have at least one good spawn from your BG. Your FHM will spawn seveal time as long as there is a submerged flat surface, such as a wodden pallet, etc. Once your food chain has been established, THEN put your predator fish in. Just my opinion.

Based on your post, I wasn't clear if it was a new pond or existing stocked pond. You'll get the experts here shortly that will give you all the excellent advise you'll need to be successful. BTW, welcome to the board.

Thanks for the info. Its a new pond. My minows, the large ones spawned about 3 weeks ago and there is fry everywhere. I guess, I want a good, big bass population and the catfish too. Bluegills are ok, but mainly using them for food. I do have one pallet, that isnt submerged on one corner and the fry are sticking tight to it. I added several smaller rocks along the side of the pond and the minnows used them to spawn.

hosob, where in the USA is your pond? Management is very different depending on the location...

Im in WV.Our pond is spring fed and waterflow is consistant.

Anybody?

I think you may already be pushing the envelope on your stocking. My calculations say you have about 4/10 of an acre which is tough to manage for lots of big bass and catfish. With the numbers you have provided, you have about 50 pounds of bass and catfish. Then we add in the large BG, HBG, minnows, spawning, etc. If you figure that the GENERALLY accepted rate of 100 pounds per acre of predators, you may be overdoing it. A lot of us have done that and learned the hard way.

I don't know why the big BG died but suspect an oxygen shortage due to overcrowding. It has been said that 99% of fish kills are caused by O2 shortage. The dye may have exacerbated the problem but, with a flow thru pond, it probably won't last long.

I certainly wouldn't stock more fish.

Have you had the water tested? Have you considered aeration?

Thank you very much for the response. I havent had the water tested. 100lbs of predators per acre, I guess Im looking at 40lbs then. Would this include the BG or just the bass and catfish. We have another pond that is spring fed, just out of the mountain. It holds trout but is much colder and had 2 two inch lines of water shooting into it to aid in aeration. It is pretty small, 50ft x 60 ft or so. But also holds small bass and large bluegill. We also got the larger catfish from it to put in the other pond. I guess I was relating to that pond but it is very much aerated and is an established pond.

I have 2 one inch lines runing into the pond currently. However they are under the surface. Would they add enough oxygen, or do I still need to look at more aeration?

The Bass and the catfish.

I think the 2 lines ought to be Ok with diffusers

I checked the pond this morning. The fathead fry are using the cage as protection from the bass, which are lurking nearby. They are hitting the larger schools of minnows pretty hard. I also saw a couple bluegill nests. I wanted to look at the pond just at daylight because I read this is the time when oxygen would be the least. All looked well and no lethargic fish. The fish truck is coming today, what about just getting more minnows, and nothing else? The pond is still very blue. I asked my father how much dye he put in it, he said the entire gallon! I guess thats about double.

Nope, I think I would go with bigger bluegills if you can get them. Fatheads are born to die young and are really only good for jump starting a new pond with small predators. You bypassed the small predator growth stage.

It's a matter of calorie intake versus energy expended in the chase.

Personally, I would eat the catfish now.

Good deal. I have been looking for larger bluegills for the pond. But it seems almost every pond that someone says "come and get them" are ponds that arent full of blugills, but stunted green sunfish, which I wont even consider.

Be very careful sir. You are treading dangerously close to committing heritical blasphmy.

hosob,ignore the threats from the GSA,we have thier "killmode switch" in the "off" position.

If you need any green sunfish. I know a great pond for them!

Better, but I'm sure this is what you intended to say:



Yes that's much better.

geez lueeze!! I didnt get to the "fish truck" in time. My father(the blue dye dumper) bought more fish anyway. At least he followed some sort of list. He didnt get any bass, but here is the tally.
160 bluegill, 50 redear, 4lbs fathead minnows, and 30 channelcatfish. He has already put them in the pond. Dont get me wrong, he means very well and acts like a 63yr old kid. But thats another story. Now what do I do. We have a constant breeze and I think I can get a windmill aerator to work. Help!

Get Dad to log on here. A lot of us, me included, have made the mistake of jamming too many fish into a hole of water.

I see no big problem with the forage fish. However, get those cats out ASAP.