Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking my small pond

Getting ready to stock FHM and GSH in my .3 acre pond. I need to find a reliable hatchery within driving distance from Savannah, GA or for someone to recommend a hatchery I can order from. This is a new pond, no predators. I plan on waiting a year before introducing YP and SMB.

I would appreciate it if someone provide stocking rates for both the FHM and GSH. Also would like to know if I should stock the YP along with the FHM and GSH or wait a year.

Thanks for your input.

If you're giving them a year with no predators, 2-5 lbs of each should be plenty. I did that in March in a brand new small pond and they went crazy doing the fish thing and by Fall, there were clouds everywhere. Mine were $11/lb or thereabouts. The money for forage fish is just a blip, I didn't see any reason to try to scrimp.

Watching those little rascals feed on pellets is great fun. I just threw in dry pellets. The first few minutes, they were just pecking at them, but they'd get soggy and start decreasing in size quicker. It could be 40-50 min to eat them, but they were working away the whole time. I tried crushing them, but when you crush floating pellets, half of the bits sank right away. It's worth the price of the feed just to watch the top action.

You can stock last years fingerling YP this spring with the FHM and GSH or later in the fall. You could have a real hard time locating yellow perch & SMB anywhere in GA-SC. YP and HSB will work well together esp if both are pellet trained. You may have to resort to another fish combination. Think about HBG and HSB, both good growers and pellet eaters.

If the fingerling YP are 2"-3" they are a little stunted or could be sorted males from last years crop. Stock maybe a mix of smallest 40% and next size larger (4"-6") 60%. The FHM will be a little more prolific than the GSH so add a few more GSH than FHM; 3 lb FHM 4-6 lb GSH. Try to add proper substrate for GSH spawning.

Are you going to feed pellets? I assume you live in GA and pond is in SC? Pellet feeding will not be nearly as easy if you live away from the pond.

Without pellet feeding you will not grow nearly as many fish per acre which is okay if a big harvest is not wanted. If the water remains clear the fish numbers will be significantly reduced compared to a lot of other ponds. With good population management you can still grow nice fish just not as many of them.

Looking forward to seeing how your fishery develops - it will be very unique for SC. Love your target species!

Agree with DN feedback above. I'd wait to stock the YP and SMB until the Fall, 2015. Source sexually mature GSH, 4"+, to ensure rolling spawns this Summer provided presence of suitable spawning habitat. If provided the option, medium FHM will consist of more females than males, and your reproduction should be off the hook.

I'd look to stock 15-20 SMB max, and 100-150 YP. Recommend pellet feeding to help take pressure off forage base. You may need to supplementally stock YP to sustain population in SC as water temps may not achieve 49 degrees necessary for egg development. They are not expensive, so ladder stocking shouldn't be an issue.

Sounds like an awesome project-and will be unique to the forum providing us all a great scientific experience. Keep us apprised please!

LOL, or as Bill suggests above - little more detailed on the YP stocking strategy than my effort! Hope you can source YP there...we have NC members with YP, they may be able to assist you sourcing them.

Bill, I asked about being within driving distance from Savannah because I'm in a 2 traffic light town just north of there in South Carolina.

Yes, I'm planning on feeding pellets, also will have aeration (the pond is 10' deep)

After Bill has spoken, my advice would be comical. However I do congratulate you for livin in a big city with two traffic signals. Also glad ya specified YP rather than most southern boys that think if it ain't Bass or Catfish, it is perch or bream,

Bob-O, I live in the south now but was born and raised in New York.

I've found a source for YP and SMB within 2 hours of me. Think I might order the FHM and GSH from Anderson's, they seem to have a good reputation.

Let us know where you locate YP and or SMB in the southeast. Others will benefit.

Since part of this thread is about YP, can somebody tell me if there is a genetic difference between Jumbos and regular YP?

Bill,the source I found is:


Southland Fisheries
600 Old Bluff Road
Hopkins, SC 29061
803-776-4923

Blue Catfish, Channel Catfish, Green, Koi, Sunfish, Tilapia, Yellow Perch, White Crappie, Bluegill, Warmouth, Black Crappie, Redear, Redbreast, Triploid Grass Carp, Hybrid Striped Bass, White Bass, Largemouth Bass, Threadfin Shad


I decided to go with HSB instead of SMB.

HSB will be as good as or in some respects better than SMB with YP. SMB can reproduce and too easily overeat the YP population. Since HSB don't reproduce they can be added and removed easier than SMB to keep the YP growing best.

This is a new "twist" to YP sales. Southland claims this: "we market all female seed stock". I am not sure how they manage this ability. If they can do this that would be beneficial for you since you would not have to worry about YP overpopulation and the YP would grow fastest with only females. I am very curious to find if this true and if you see any results of YP reproduction in your pond. They list fingerlings of 1.5"-2" as available in Feb,Mar,April. I suggest you get them later in Mar-Apr when they are slightly larger (2") and stock them with the minnows. Pre order them so you make sure they are not sold out when you want them. When you get them it might be a good idea to also buy 10-20 lbs of their feed they are using to feed those fish. Don't buy 50 lbs as it will take you to long to use all of it before it starts to loose optimum vitality. When that food is gone buy the next larger size pellet as the fish will be growing and need a larger pellet. Keep us advised as to your progress. Inquiring minds want to know more.

They do not list FHM or shiners as available. Ask about those species.

I've used Andersons for both their 250,000 "fry" boxes and their GHS brood fish. Both came with 0 morts and both adapted to the pond very well.

esshup, thanks for the info.

I guess my next step is getting the water tested. I have 12 - 18 inches visibility in the pond, no structure yet as the pond started filling before they finished digging. Some good stuff in the structure threads that I'm going to implement.

Most of your initial low visibility is probably due to suspended clays and silt and not plankton. Clays and silt when in suspension tend to depress plankton from blooming until most of the inorganic material settles out.

How can hatchery identify gender reliably on 1-2" fish? Can it be done?

TJ - Very good question. My guess is what Southland or their supplier is probably doing is performing chemical or maybe temperature induced sex reversal at egg or fry stage. I am not familiar with the process. Cecil might know more.

This is what I found. YP at about 1.9" are fed methyl-testosterone in their diet for 60 days. This evidently causes partial sex reversal and at maturity masculinized females have both testicular and ovarian tissue. Sperm from these females is used to fertilize normal YP eggs. The hatchlings are all 100% female. Isn't it interesting what fish squeezers do?
https://books.google.com/books?id=BNwkQn...sal&f=false

Bill, it's been over a month since the pond was full. How long should I wait before doing something about the suspended clay?

Hey Bill,

You have me curious again with your recommendation to stock small 2 inch YP at the same time as the minnows. Why not stock the minnows and plant vegetation in the pond in the spring and stock larger but less YP in the fall? Won't the small YP in the spring compete for the limited forage in a new pond with the minnows?

Bill D.

Bill D. - Part or most of the reasoning for my suggesting to stock the 2" YP is their limited availability at that Southland hatchery. Larger YP are not available to LarryH. Thus we have to "deal with the cards dealt" in his situation. Plus studies show small YP in the 1"-5" range forage primarily on invertebrates and a limited amount on small fish. YP are not aggressive efficient minnow predators esp when YP are at a small size. Pond YP in the 6"-10" size also eat a lot of invertebrates if available and when eating minnows, they highly prefer the 1"-1.7" easy to catch minnows since this are the sizes that disappear first. Smaller minnows are less wary and slower swimmers than the adults. A larger minnow on a hook becomes a very easy prey item, thus adult YP can be caught on large minnows. Adult FHM are even fairly hard for 12" YP to catch but they do it when small FHM are scarce. Their rule is 'eat the easiest to catch food available' a form of "optimal foraging".

FHM recruitment is usually very good with only small YP or/and larger pellet eating YP present. This is even more the case if the YP are pellet trained which the fingerlings from Southland Fisheries are supposed to be. Note that fingerlings eating pellets in a tank or small pond with nothing else to eat is often different than pellet trained fingerlings released into a pond full of natural foods. Then the YP will often go off pellets. Instinct often causes many pellet trained fingerlings to go off food due to the low or short habituation influence or time period of training.

OK folks, got the water test results from the lab. Here they are:

Temp: 60F
PH: 6.0
Dissolved Oxygen: 4ppm
Alkalinity: 250
Hardness: 75
Phosphate: .2

Flocculation analysis results:

Cleared with alum at the following rates:

60ppm @ 24 hours
40ppm @ 48 hours

What's your impression?