Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Copper Nose Blue Gill v Fat Head Minnows v Tilapia

Built a 1/2 acre pond about just about a year ago and stocked it with about 200 copper nose bluegills and five pounds of fathead minnows. The bluegills seem to be doing great, and I'm developing a nice population of fish of all sizes. However, I'm not seeing any minnows. Perhaps they've died off. Perhaps I'm just mistaking them for small bluegills. How can I tell? Could the bluegills have eaten the minnows?

I'd like to stock some predators (LMB) in the fall. Is it too late for me to add a few pounds of minnows again? Anything I can do to ensure their survival?

Also, any reason I couldn't add some tilapia to the mix?

Thanks for all the great advice.

Set a simple conical minnow trap. You should quickly tell whether you have both BG and FHM or just BG. My experience is they are pretty easy to tell apart in the water though?

If you have had a BG spawn, there should be plenty of BG to feed your bass without adding more FHM if you don't want to add them. You certainly can though. I don't think you need to add tilapia this early in the game.

You also need to evaluate what kind of cover you have in your pond and what type of spawning structure you have for your minnows.

The BG seldom have a mouth large enough to eat a grown fathead. A conical trap only costs about $10.00 and is a good tool. Not sure I would stock bass in 1/2 acre. They can easily overspawn in 1/2 acre: especially in a drought. Have you considered about 25 or so HSB?

Where are you in Texas?