Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain RES, YP and WE stocking (with pics)

I finally got my long awaited fish and stocked them in the pond Saturday.Their sizes where right on with what they said they were. I ended up with more fish than I paid for, 3 extra YP and 11 extra RES (I only wanted 20). Pond is only 1/4 s.a. so I didn't get many, here's the numbers:

31 RES 4-6"
33 YP 5-7"
5 WE 7-9"

The stocking went well, the surface temperature of my pond was the same as the tanks at the fishery. I added a bucket of my pond water to the bags the fish came in and then netted them out to a 10 gallon aquarium that had my pond water in it. I wanted a good look at the fish and I don't like adding the water from the fishery to my pond. One RES looked injured in the tank but I haven't found any floaters since releasing them.

The pictures below show my water clairity (or lack of it). The tank is only 10" front to back and if a fish is next to the glass in the back you can't see it from the front. The pond was clearer in the spring but it's lacked clarity all summer. I collected a large glass jar of pond water and let it sit for almost a week with barely a change, I compared it to another identical jar with a new collection, it doesn't settle out. Is this what a bloom does? or is this caused by having too many minnows? I have a ton of minnows. Does the water look ok?

The YP are feed trained but I haven't seen any at feeding time the last 2 days. With all the minnows they probably don't care about the AM. The air temperature has been nice, in the 60"s but very windy.

I have a video of the RES but I don't know if it's possible to post it here from photobucket. The pictures could be better, they are taken with my cell phone and reflection off the glass doesn't help either.

Photo of RES:





RES group pic:




YP, they like to crowd in the corner:



WE laying on bottom:



WE closeup, checking me out:

I should have done that with an aquarium. I have three in the basement unused! Oh well, my mug shots came out bad from lack of patience.

Nice pics!

I over think everything. With my clarity as it is I figured I wouldn't see them for a long time once I released them. I never saw a RES or WE before so I wanted to get a good eyeball on them too.

Hi loretta,

That's a pretty cool WE.


Care to share where you got them? I would like to check it out, ask some questions.

I am finding a few roadblocks with regard to my particular quest, and would like to find a solution as to sourcing.

Thanks

Thanks! They are pretty cool, I've never seen one before and it looks like they have teeth already, lol. I got them from Imlay City Fish Farms and they originated from the UP. These WE were hatched in the spring and came in bigger than they expected them to be. I was told they were going to be 5-7" but they came in at 7-9" and I paid $2.50 a piece. All fish appeared healthy and I didn't have any casualties.

Thank you!

SAWEEET RES...not common to find them that large!!

Thanks Loretta, much appreciated!

I'll need to investigate this further. A trip to the UP would suck as far as driving time and such, but may get me what I am looking for.

Problem with fish is that they are seasonal, which means, you are talking an elapsed year till your next opportunity.

Just thinking out loud here.

Wish those idiot's in London,OH didn't blow it!!!

Probably would have a few pet WE that would kiss you goodnight before they turned in!

JKB, When I picked up my fish a week ago they had walleye he was trying to sell me. He said they were big, which probably translates as to expensive. They are in east-cenral Ohio.

How far is your WE source in the UP, Imlay city is about 210 miles from Benton Harbor or 188 miles from Muskegon (not sure where your at). Imlay City Fish Farms has THOUSANDS of WE, I thought she said they were getting 500,000 of them but don't quote me on that, lol. They get their WE from the UP, maybe from the same source that you know about. Here's a link, call for availability: http://www.imlaycityfishfarm.com/html/fish-and-pricing-a3.html

Thanks Loretta,

I have several fish farms within a 20-30 minute drive that sell the same WE you have. Just not the size I want.