Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose YP only pond

I want to do a YP only grow out pond. 1/4 acre, aerated, and fed. If I stock, 100-6-8" YP would they consume the spawned YP offspring and keep the pond "in balance"? There is almost no structure and I could keep the weeds to a minimum. Would this work or what have you guys experienced?

There are a couple ponds near me that are only yellow perch. sometimes other fish in the pond are 1-2 grass carp, maybe 1-2 koi, and or tilapia. Note male & female koi can be very problematic due to reproduction - overpopulation. Another pond (0.2 ac) has just been stocked with only YP and minnows. From my observations this works well with good growth of YP if stocker YP are pellet trained and the perch and offspring keep growing when they regularly receive pellets. Annual harvesting helps keep the numbers reduced and from becoming overabundant. I think it helps to have minnows and or shiners in the pond as an alternative food source for when perch are not getting food. Plus some recruitment perch will not learn to eat pellets thus they survive on minnows, small perch, and invertebrates. I think it helps to cull the skinny perch whenever you collect them.

IMO the main important factor to have a good perch only pond is to keep them feeding and growing even if there are too many for a natural balance in the pond. Aeration is the 2nd most important factor. Weed control is another factor and population harvest is the fourth important factor. Harvest can be by anglers, trapping, and/or predators.

For a perch only pond with feeding a good starting point is 100 6"-8" per 0.25 ac. Highest stocking number with aeration IMO would be 200 per 0.2 ac or 800-1000/ac. At the higher densities expect larger amounts of filamentous algae or submerged vegetation. With high amounts of food items they should be 8"-11" by late October and 10"-13" by the end of the second year in the pond. You could remove some of the original stockers at the end of the 1st year and replace them with new 6"-8"ers. If you do this, please keep us advised about your progress. Others will benefit.

Thanks Bill for all your info. I have done quite a bit of experimenting with different types of fish and combinations over the last 10 years. Over the last 10 years, with extreme weather conditions, water challenges, aeration screw ups, bad stocking strategies, and such, the YP have always survived. For me and my ponds, even with my poor fish management skills YP "seem" to belong. So, now I am going to dedicate a pond to them and see if I can grow and sustain a YP population between 10-12"(heck, is there a better tasting fish?)

I will be doing a draw down on the NP pond later this summer. Maybe we will learn something about the NP in a small pond environment, assuming they are still alive (I saw 4 of 10 winter killed). I will then kill it off and stock trapped fish from my other pond (picture of some trapped last weekend) below.

Do you think it's possible to grow 10-12" perch using only FHM? Does the 10 to 1 weight conversion using minnows hold true for YP?

Thanks again.

Those are nice add stock perch for the dedicated perch pond. If they are not eating pellets, IMO you will not be able to grow as many YP per acre on natural food primarily minnows compared to using pellet food which I think has to do with the optimal foraging theory i.e. amount of energy expended vs the food-nutrition consumed. It takes more energy to catch minnows than to eat pellets thus there is less weight gain.

It is definitely possible to grow 10"-12" YP with minnows as the main forage, although I find it is "easier" to grow the jumbo perch if high protein (40%+) pellets are the main food item. With natural foods you just will not grow as many and will have to better control the numbers of perch so growth remains relatively fast. Growing enough minnows to feed lots of predatory perch could be problematic. We have not had a lot of great success naturally growing enough minnows to feed a strong reproducing and recruiting YP population. The perch numbers often out-pace the minnow production. Control of the perch numbers is often needed to maintain a good predator - prey balance. I've seen aggressive fish eating perch easily eliminate FHM from a small 1/2 ac pond so maintaining a high density of FHM for large numbers of perch can be difficult but not impossible.

I think the 10:1 or 8:1 food conversion ratio of live foods for fish predators is a fairly standard concept or fact. This is due primarily to the fact that live foods by weight are mostly water (often 90+%). If you completely dehydrate a 2" FHM it weighs very little compared to a live FHM. Try it. One may see better or lower food conversion ratios when the animal (fish) feeds lower on the food chain. Animals eating animals usually results in higher food conversion ratios. This relates back to those ponds were we see very good production of YP in the ponds where the perch are fed pellets. Pelleted food is low in moisture and requires little effort / energy to capture and eat it resulting in good growth for the amount of energy expended to get a high protein food.

If you are going to use only natural food in the perch pond you may want to put only female perch in this pond since you have access to a pond with perch. Select the stocker, obviously gravid perch in spring before or right after they spawn to choose the females for the perch pond. The spawning vent of the female YP is obviously enlarged and often reddish or appears "raw" or reddened for a couple weeks after egg laying. Female YP grow faster and often get larger compared to the same age males. No reproduction in the perch pond will make it easier to control numbers of perch, and make it easier to maintain higher numbers of forage minnows.