Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Help with stocking pond

Hi! I have a 1 acre pond that has been around for quite sometime and when we moved to the property 5 years ago there were already a few CC in it.

A few years ago a few LMB were introduced, though most died.

We recently cleared the pond with aluminum sulfate and can see that there are at least a pair of LMB and some juvenile ones as well. There are lots of minnows and some "perch" that I think are GSF but am trying to get out there to catch one and be sure.

My worry is that now that we have cleared the pond water the LMB will eat everything in sight and the whole things is going to get messed up. What will happen if I don't add any fish? I was wanting to add RES since they don't nibble on swimmers as much as BG (the pond is predominantly for swimming) but now I see that I would need to add adults and they only spawn in spring so in the meantime what will happen? What will the bass eat?

Any advice would be appreciated.

The LMB will get skinny, and will eat whatever they can fit in their mouths - they aren't that picky on fish species when they're hungry.

Typically, the LMB are stocked at a rate of 1 per every 10 BG, I'd cut that at least in half for RES (1:20)

There are a couple other options. 1. Remove some or numerous bass probably annually to keep bass numbers lower and more food available for remaining bass so they grow. This results in more forage fish including GSF that bite swimmers. 2. Allow and manage for bass to stay/be small and abundant and keep all GSF (perch) well controlled and few swimmers will get bit. 3. renovate and start over with different fish that do not bother swimmers.

Thank you.. this is very helpful!