Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Natural Hybrid Crappie and Hybrid Catfish Forage?

Hello PondBoss Forum,

This is a really cool and informative site, I've been looking around here for 6 months while my ponds were being planned. All dirt work is now completed, just waiting to install water well fill lines, drain lines, and aeration lines. I finally decided on the purpose of my ponds and wanted to pick a few brains and bounce ideas around to help balance predator to prey ratio.

Pond Purpose: Hybrid Catfish and Hybrid Crappie meat production with a self-sustaining forage supply.

Pond Specs: ½ acre total. Two separate ponds, both 8ft deep, small pond is 1/10th of an acre (50'x 85'). Designed to join both ponds or separate based on water level if we need to separate different species. Each pond will have seperate drain and fill lines. I'm installing a dual air diffuser in the small pond and two in the larger pond, all three will be powered by a 1/2hp rocking piston compressor. http://www.pondboy.com/rocking-piston-po...pa66-detail.htm

I was hoping to grow 200 Hybrid Catfish and 200 Hybrid Crappie since they grow faster and don’t reproduce. I plan for a selective harvest as they grow for meat consumption or to keep pH levels safe from too much fish waste. http://jmmaloneandson.com/hybridcrappie.html

Do you guys or gals think 800 Bluegill and 200 Redear Sunfish could create enough forage to support my meat fish? I don’t mind feeding my meat fish pellets or minnows until the Bluegill start reproducing, but I don’t want the expense of feeding them year round. Can that many Catfish and Crappie keep the Bluegill population under control, is a self-sustaining food supply possible? I’m totally open to new ideas and adjusting fish numbers. Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mark

I'm a little confused. You mentioned hybrid species that don't reproduce, AND a self-sustaining food population together? I'm also curious as to the fish you listed. What constitutes hybrids of both of those species in your location? Are they true hybrids?

Ah...folowed your link to Malone's. Those crappie WILL reproduce, perhaps not in as great a quantity, but they are not sterile.

Thanks for the reply Sparkplug! I want my forage fish to reproduce but not my meat fish. I'm leaning towards hybrids because of the amount of weight they put on per lb of forage consumed. I'm not really worried about inferior offspring from hybrid Crappie, my Catfish will probably find them tasty...lol. I'm just trying to figure out how many Redear Sunfish and Bluegill to stock in order to keep the hybrids I paid for growing without creating too much fish waste or high pH.

Gotcha'. It sounds like plenty of forage to me, I might even be worried about the other end of the spectrum, as in not enough predation. But let's hear what the experts say.

I'd be worried about the YOY BG being too big for the Hybrid Crappie to eat in the late Fall thru early Spring. (Due to their less than optimal fusiform shape).

Lets back up a step here. We need to work backwards. You want to raise fish for meat. How many pounds of meat for the table (we're talking cleaned fish here) per year are you expecting, and how is that total pounds divided up between Crappie and Catfish?

Thanks for the reply Esshup, I don't really have a preference when it comes to how many lbs for each meat fish. I like the taste of both, but I will do what's best to balance the pond. I was just figuring 200 Cats since they hang out more towards the bottom of the water column and 200 Crappie since they hang out more in the middle or near the top with Bream. I didn't want to over crowd with too many bottom or top feeders, just hoping to use as much water column as possible and stock my little pond to its maximum potential...

I forgot to mention that I run deep-water Crawfish traps in the Atchafalaya Basin from Oct-July, I can supplement their diet with the smaller Crawfish I don't eat...

It's hard to determine if the ponds will provide enough for you to harvest if the harvest numbers aren't known.

If you haven't done so already, take a look at the 2 links that I'm posting below. They are in regards to how many pounds of fish a given BOW can support. Those links may help you determine if what you want to do is feasible.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9167&page=1

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92440#Post92440

Esshup, I was planning to drain my ponds and harvest in catch basins every three years then use my tractor to clean the pond bottom and start all over again with new fingerlings. Let's figure I pull out half the fish during those three years for my dinner table with 100 of each meat fish remaining. Let's guesstimate 2.5lbs per catfish (250lbs) and 1lb per crappie (100lbs)or 350lbs of meat fish weight by year 3. Do you think a 1/2 acre pond with aeration and could support those numbers?

Without supplemental feeding, no. That's the limiting factor. If you were to feed pellets, then the CC pond would be no problem. Getting Crappie to pellet train is hard. With the Crappie, I'm not sure what the conversion rate is from live food to pounds of crappie. In LMB, it's been said it's roughly 10:1. So if it's the same for crappie, to get 100# of crappie, they need to eat 1,000# of live fish (if the conversion rate is the same). You run up against the pond carrying capacity limits.

I see...Maybe I could feed my Cats pellets only once per week. But like you said it still leaves my Crappie hungry late Fall thru early Spring as Bream offspring will become too large for the Crappie to eat. Is it possible to have a self sustaining minnow population or will the Crappie clean them out? I noticed folks using old pallets and wire mesh as a shelter for minnows.