Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How to Make Fish a Regular, Consistent Food Source

The goal of my pond is to be a regular source of food for as much of the year as possible. Ideally, I'd like to pull 2 or 3 fish a week out for dinner year round. What species would you recommend? Yeah, I know: "It depends". :-) I live in NC. I was first thinking LMB but then realized that it would probably take a lot more acreage than I have to produce 2-3/week of eating size. So what about CC or BG as food? It seems to me that the problem is the "feast or famine" characteristic of raising fish where you have nothing when you are waiting for them to grow large enough and then when it's harvest time you have more than you can eat at once. Isn't there a way to space out the harvest so that you can eat them almost all year long once they reach a large enough size? Instead of draining the pond and harvesting all at once, why don't people harvest them slowly, only the amount that they can eat each time?

To my way of thinking, most folks with ponds harvest exactly as you describe.....a few fish here and there, rather than all at once. We have fresh fish once every week or so, and the "harvest" does not have a set ending date... the longer you leave them in the pond, the larger they will get....within reason. The fish left in the pond won't spoil if you only harvest enough for a meal once a week.

I think BG are tailor made for this style of harvest. CC work well too, but they may not reproduce, and require replenishment from time to time.

This may be an option for crappie as well depending on how many you plan to harvest and how fast you they grow and what size you need them.

LMB also give you plenty of food in my opinion even at 8-10 inches if you like to eat them.

This is pretty much what my pond has turned into now, as I will struggle to grow fish to large size due to my stocking method I followed from the fish truck, unless I am willing to start over and that is not an option at this point.

How big is your pond? That might make options easier to determine.

Also, are you going to feed, or let the pond manage itself? Feeding may change the dynamics of all this.

Why does it have to be just one species? You can utilize 2, 3 or 4 species depending on the size of your pond, whether you are looking for a self sustaining pond and if you are willing to feed your fish...

Thanks all for your replies. I haven't dug the pond yet but only have room for about 1/8 acre. I am wondering if it will be worth it if the amount of fish I can get would be an insignificant part of my diet. I would feed them but with such a small pond I'm still not sure I could raise enough to eat often, like 2-3 per week.

Size of pond and amount of food added or grown in the pond will determine how many pounds of fish it will grow per acre which will determine how many pounds of fish you can harvest each year to maintain a balance of species.

Arrow, I agree with you. I doubt that you could do that with 1/8 acre of water on a continuous basis.

Dave, I dunno. You can grow a lot of fish in a small area if you have water!

It all depends on whether he's going to feed and monitor water quality. 2-3 fish a week is 150 fish per year. I think it's doable with CC. Possibly throw some HBG in there for variety. Feeding 'em is a must to get consistent fast growth.

He'll have to monitor water quality, treating it more of an aquaculture facility than a "pond".

N8ly, what do you think?

I would also like to hear what Cecil Baird has to say on it too. I seem to remember a post not to long ago that he mentioned/alluded to what fish would be prime candidates for raising a lot of food. Kind of surprised me.... was it Trout?

I think he'd want reproduction, if I'm interpreting his posts correctly, so trout would be out as an option. What I would think would be optimal would be starting off with bluegill, possibly yellow perch too, if you can get vegetation going right away. Wait a while to stock the largemouth to give the bluegill and yellow perch a solid head start. Also could consider placing spawning habitat for channel catfish. Just know that what you catch, you definitely keep.

I'll see if I can get Cecil to weigh in here.

A pond 1/8 ac is 0.125ac and approx 5440 sq ft or 74'x74' or 60'x90' water surface thus embankments would be slightly larger due to free board (above water banks) and slope. It would have to be an aquaculture situation with feeding and aeration or well water inflow to maintain water quality and fish biomass production. The pond should be easily drained so it can be properly maintained such a drying of banks, drawdowns, periodic fish renovation, bottom liming, sludge removal, parasite control, etc.

Hi Omaha,

Yes, I was thinking of stocking only fish that would reproduce in the pond. Trout are out anyway because it is too warm here.

Hi Bill,

I was planning on feeding, aerating, liming, monitoring water quality, etc, but did not know that I would have to drain it to dry the banks, lime the bottom, and remove sludge. I guess that would be necessary for a high fish volume/aquaculture-type situation, huh?

Ok..what about tilapia? Are they legal there?


I wouldn't let draining a pond of that size deter you from your goals. Even a dugout pond could easily be drained with a trash pump.

Just a thought FWIW. Couldn't the question be answered (at least if its possible) by calculating a ponds limits for carrying capacity based on past research?

What would be the maximum carrying capacity (lbs of fish) of an unfed or fed pond with x and y dimensions be? Along with the water limitations, factoring in the constraints of inputs from the owner (time and money) along with fish species and geographical location. Once that number is calculated, simply divide it over 52 weeks.

If the carrying capacity of a fed, mid effort managed pond, in the south, with aeration, stocked with CC and BG is between 750-850lbs/acre, your weekly harvest would be:

Pond size 1/8 acre; 750/8= 93.75lbs carrying capacity

Assume 50% of the population is of harvestable size; 93.75/2=46.8lbs

Weekly harvest of; 46.8/52= .9lbs of fish

Nice break down mnfish. I think this could work if he went with a fish he could feed. If you put LMB or Crappie or WE in that small pond you would have to feed them bait fish all the time to get them to grow. So either way your feeding. I would go with BG and setup a small feeder for them and feed twice a day. Between the feed and regular bugs and such I bet you could get some nice BG out of it. Course if any spawned which I figure they will they would have another food source as I know a lot of the babies would get ate also. If I was doing it just for food and I had at least a 1 acre pond. I would try WE or Crappie just to see if I could get it to work. I love me some WE!!! Crappie too! But in a 1/8th acre pond thats not really realistic I don't think.

RC

2 to 3 tilapia a week? That's reaching a dangerous health risk level. May be a mixture of 1 tilapia every other week, combined with trout/BG every week. I can understand you may want to consume natural foraging tilapia once a week, but that's still pushing it. Farmed tilapia, I'm sorry to say, even though my family LOVE eating tilapia, we limit ourselves to one every other week, and even less for children under 12.

Arrow1-- I know you said trout was not entertaining, but for reference I found the post that I remember, Just for basic info from it, Cecil said he raises 500# of trout in a 1/10 acre pond.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post305823



Leo-- didn't know that about tilapia. Glad to be warned about it.

Leo, isn't the danger from too much tilapia or any other fish the amount of mercury or other toxins which accumulate in it from the water? I am going to have my water tested, but a water treatment guy in my neighborhood said that we have very low levels of contaminants here because it is very wooded and has never had any energy production or large-scale farming in the area.

Fish n chips, thanks for the link. Mnfish, thanks for the numbers. Maybe I'll have to lower my expectations to 1 fish per week. RC, I think that BG might be a good idea with maybe 1 or 2 LMB to keep them in check. Does anyone know how much food a bug zapper over the pond could realistically provide in a wooded area?

A pond in a wooded area poses extra problems from lots of leaf (organic) inputs which cause decreased water quality. Periodic draining during high fish production would become a more important part of the managament. Design of the pond should be for easy seining and fish removal at a low water level during draining.

Hybrid bluegill (HBG) would be a good fish to consider. They eat pellets well, tolerate warm water, and grow fast to 0.5 to 0.7 lb. I would stock with two sizes of HBG to produce some fairly quick harvestable fish and some for the second year. Periodic draining (every two yr) would solve problem of controlling the offspring. A few predator fish would help reduce the offspring and provide harvestable larger fish at each draining.
Have you read this about hybrid bluegill?
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=256325#Post256325

A few trout added and fed during the fall, winter and early spring would provide some rapid growing fish and diversity of harvestable fish. Several tilapia added when the trout die would help with fish diversity and filamentous algae control if an algae bloom is not maintained.

Arrow, any fish that's get harvested after 4 years has an endangerment of heavy metals toxicity level, which include trouts, BG, tilapia, etc.. However, it's all about the water that the species thrive in. Don't be too worry about mercury, unless, you know of the lab analytical results come back high for mercury, or any heavy metal. Mercury can be natural from existing in the soil, as well as being deposited from dust settling into the water via atmospheric deposition (primary cause is from nearby mining operation and China..yep..China).

You may be weary about DDT, or any other pesticide/herbicide from the local usages for vegetation/pests management.

As Bill mentioned, if your water can sustain a good quantity of BG, HBG, GSF, mixed in with a bit of bass for control, these will be great for your heart and liver. Trout tossed into the mix will be a lively dietary contribution.

At the same time, since you are concerned about human health, if you're feeding them pellets, make sure the pellets are not heavily reinforced with corn base. Corn will promote fish growth, but also a health factor for human consuming the fish. Corn based product decrease the omega 3 (the good) of the fish, and increase the omega 6 (the bad). This is why I encourage those who raise their fish for consumption with partial supplementation of krill based food source. Expensive, but extremely healthy for both fish and human as we climb the food pyramid. If a pond is close to or near +/-400ft of sea level, harvest and promote grass shrimps in the water body. The presence of the grass shrimp will be an invaluable resource for growth, nutrition, and vitality of the biota.

Leo, good thoughts!!

Now I have to figure out if I can find grass shrimp for our ponds........

A pond needs weeds or dense fine structured cover simular to live rood masses for grass shrimp to thrive, perpetuate, and reproduce each year.

Leo- how does one detrmine if corn is a large percent composition of a brand of fish food? Then is corn oil healthy bad or is it the carbohydrates in corn that are problematic? How does canola oil compare to corn oil health wise?