Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations picked up some hsb

I found some HSB today at clear creek fisheries in Martinsville, IN. I bought 20 at $2 each they were about 6 to 8 inches. It was my first time there so I asked him about some different fish. He had a ton of black crappie. When I asked about those he wanted to know my pond size "its 1 plus acres" he told me not to put them in, that was a good sign. Then I told him I have HBG from the previous owner. He told me I should get them out and replace with bluegill. Here is some conflicting information though I want to check on. He told me I should just add the BG in. I said I wouldnt want them spawning with the HBG and he said they wouldnt because they dont spawn. So should I just put in some bg like he said? Would it be a good idea to remove as many hbg as possible before I do that or is it a remove all or nothing deal?

jg74 - Bgill will spawn with HBG, but the frequency may be low. I always ask for guarantee when some fish guy tells me something "fishy". Verbal guarantees are not worth much. Ask for a written guarantee. Then I listen to his answer very closely and if you have a doubt about his answer get a second or third opinion. One can always get second and third opinions on this forum.

I've found that as a general rule, the fish guy assumes that I know absolutely zero about fish.

Bruce, you are the fish guy.

jg74 give us an overview of your pond and your goals. It is possible to add BG and have them overwhelm the HBG because of their reproductive advantage. Over time the overall % of HBG genes will decrease greatly and the % of BG genes go up greatly. But what to do depends on what your goals are and the current status of the pond.

jg, How was your HSB's trip? Was it a far run to get to your pond? How did you get them there by tank or bags. Did you loose any or were some iffy? You see them eating yet?

I dont know much about the HBG situation so I wont add anything, ewest make sense though, I would put the new ones in and take every thing out that I wasnt sure was a BG or RES but thats what I would do... just a newbie blabing.

Short of complete renovation, I agree with Joey.

Ooops. You're right. I forgot.

My goals are just a fun place to fish with a small variety of different species. I would like to have more forage to grow out some walleye, and hsb, for put and take fishing. I currently have hbg, cc, lmb, todays hsb. The previous owner stocked the first three so I dont know how many cc I have and I never caught any of them. I added 12 albino cc myself. I have an order with Jones for res, yp and 1 grass carp. My pond is pretty clean except the leaves. Pond 1 plus acres I havent done any measurements yet thats what was on the real estate listing, it looks pretty close.

The trip was about 30 minutes. They were put in oxygenated bags and I placed them in a cooler. I did lose one of them. I tried working it for awhile it was belly up but still breathing. I tried to keep it upright and work it back and forth I just couldnt save the little guy. The others seemed fine and swam around me while I worked the other one, then finally disappeared. I didnt put any feed in so I didnt see them eating.

I dont really care what type of BG are present but dont want to be bothered with having to remove overpopulated bg. If all things were equal I would rather have the yp for my forage.

Assuming normal stocking #s of those fish species and that they have been there 2 years you do not have enough forage producing ability. Are you feeding the fish ? None of the current species produce forage offspring in big #s. FH and some adult BG should help. That depends however on what an analysis of your fish population would reveal.

I do not feed the fish. I have only been here since the last week of August and its something I didnt consider. Now that its getting colder I wont bother this year. I did order some fatheads from the hatchery as well. I am putting in 50 yp and 50 res. This should help my pond shouldnt it. Also I am thinking of building a small pond to stock with just minnows. I will let them breed and transfer them to the bigger pond. If I wanted to stay away from bg should I grow out fatheads or golden shiners?