Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Adding more fish to my small pond

Hi,

I have a 1/3 of an acre pond currently stocked with catfish, most of them a year old, with very few 4 year old (maybe 3 or 4 from observations). I only feed occasionally, maybe twice a week. The catfish are put and take, last batch was 100 of them. We will start harvesting those this year. I will like to add more variety to the pond. Not looking for trophy fish, but rather nice size fish for the table and as much action for the kids!.
My plan is to add 100 Coppernose Bluegill this year, with around 25 redear for good measure. Is this to many fish for a small pond?. I was thinking that I may need to add some bass to control bluegill?, not looking for a bass pond, just for control.. If so, how many do you think? I'm west of Houston.
Also, how about Minnows, there are seems to be some volunteers in the pond, not sure where they came from, as the pond was completely dry before the catfish were added and I didn't put them in!.

That sized pond without aeration can hold around 100 to maybe 200 pounds of fish. If it gets hot out, and the water temp climbs, you run the risk of a fishkill due to low dissolved O2 levels.

Do the math and then determine if it will hold more fish.

OK, we fished the pond over the weekend. The catfish we took out where around 1 to 1.5 .5lb each (7 of them). Not sure how many of the original 100 are still there. Worst case scenario will be 150lb of fish left in the pond. I will take the kids to fish more frequently to make room for some more fish.
I have access to electricity closed to the pond, how much more carrying capacity will I have with aeration?.
Also, I put a minnow trap and it looks like I don't have minnows, but rather some green fish. How do I go about controlling those? I rather don't kill everything if I can avoided. Still not sure how they get in there.. maybe overflow from another pond?, if that is the case starting over may not work as it will happen again.

Tavo, What green fish do you have? Did you get pictures?

Did you bait the minnow trap? Perhaps the minnows didn't find the trap/bait yet?

The green fish were in the minnow trap. Baited with some fish food..
Here are a couple of pics.. There were 5 of them in the trap.

Those green fish are the infamous green sunfish(GSF). Catfish will readily feed on them capturing most of them at night. GSF will learn to eat fish pellets thus when at reasonable numbers they will grow to harvestable sizes (7"-9"). Feeding on pellets expect their growth in TX to be 1yr 2.5"-3.5", 2yr 4"-6.5", 3yr 6"-8.5". Small GSF either alive or dead will be good bait to catch CC.

Adding bottom aeration to the pond will double or even triple the fish growing capacity. Instead of adding coppernoseBG CNBG) or redears(RES) consider adding hybrid BG(HBG). they eat pellets well, easy for kids to catch, grow fast, with minimal reproduction that your numerous CC will control the new small ones. GSF might cross breed with your CNBG, RES, or HBG.
Read about them here.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=256325#Post256325

^^^^ I agree with what Bill said! Hybrid BG are easy for the kids to catch, and the larger mouth gape means you can use bigger hooks, which are easier to get out.

Hi, thanks for the additional info... We intend to fish the catfish out during this year. And add the sunfish.. Do you know how long will it take for the HBG to reach havestable size if I only feed once or twice a week?.. What size do they need to be so that the catfish won't eat them!. Most of the catfish in the pond are less than 1.5lb, harvest 7 during the weekend one 4lb and the rest under 1.5lb. Don't think I have too many over 4lb left anymore, maybe 1 or 2..

Proceed carefully on adding either BG and/or bass to a 1/3 acre Texas pond. Both are spawning machines. I've seen, and experienced more than a few fish kills due to oxygen depletion.

If it were me, and it's not, I would go with hybrid bluegills for the kids and the kid that's in all of us. They have limited spawns. I also like about 10 or 12 hybrid stripers in a pond that size.

Only bass can keep up with bluegills spawning. But nothing can keep up with bass spawning in our long Texas warm seasons.

Nothing at all wrong with cats, hbg and some hybrid stripers. The only down side with the stripers is their fishing mortality rate during hot weather.

How many hybrid bluegill do you think I can add to the pond with limited feeding? 100?... How do I control the green sunfish?, will the hybrid stripers take care of them?.. will the Hybrid stripers survive Houston summer (100+ temperature days in the summer)?... Thanks for all your comments..

Tavo, for your goals here is what I would do. I have only been actively managing a pond for three years so my advice is probably wrong, so keep that in mind. But my opinion, for what it is worth.

You have already got GS in there. They can be a problem or an asset, depending on how you look at it. I can not tell by the pictures how big the GS are, but it looks like they are fair size. If you have 5 or 6" GS in your pond, anything like BG or HBG you stock that are only a couple inches long are likely to only become expensive fish food for the GSF. I have GSF in an older pond of mine and have recently introduced a few in my main 3 acre pond (after the BG were well established). They are very aggressive fish and are fun to catch for kids.

But I digress. What I would do in your situation and for what you want as results is simply go out this spring and find a place you can catch about 10-20 male adult BG off the nests and put in your pond. You need to make sure they are male only (no females to reproduce). Catch some 6"+ ones. Being male only, they will readily make nests and reproduce with the GSF females in your pond. You will have your own redi-made HGB population.

If you buy HBG (which is what I also think will fit your situation) that are 1-3", few are likely to survive the already established GSF in your pond. The bigger GSF are going to eat them. You could buy larger HBG fish (at a much higher cost - if you can find them). But why not let the GSF females do the work and produce your HBG for you? Just add adult male BG and let them do the work for you. The down side is it will take a year or two extra compared to buying and stocking advanced size HBG.

If you make a mistake and accidentally get one or two female BG in the mix, it will not be the end of the world. It just means eventually the BG may get the upper hand on the GSF and you might have to add some predators to control them. You are going to need some thing to control the GSF population anyway. By introducing some male BG to cross with the GSF, a large majority of that cross offspring will also be male, filling the biomass in the pond with a slant towards heavy male. This also might help with population control to a small degree.

My idea, for what it is worth.

Edit: I would also add some RES for snail control. They would need to be big enough size so the GSF will not eat them though.

I have only got GSF with my minnow trap, those go from 1 to 2 inches top... But someone must have lay the eggs!.. I will try to fish for some adult GSF before proceeding.

The GSF can spawn by the time they are 4" and yes, you likely have at least a couple 6 or 7" ones in there. They are going to fill your pond up, given the chance.

Here is a thread on GSF if you are interested in others experience. I put adult BG out of my main pond into my old pond quickly being overrun with GSF, and the BG are getting the upper hand. Fished it last night a little and caught a nice 7" GSF and a 4" BG. I see both BG and GSF feeding on the fish food when I feed.

Green Sunfish

HSB will help a lot to control GSF reproduction. The more HSB you have the more control/ predation you will get. Start with DD1 advice of 10-12, but remove at least 10-12 more CC first. Use numbers of GSF young (3"-4") present and in traps as your guide to numbers of HSB.

GSF readily enter fish traps placed in shallow water. Build yourself a little larger fish trap 16" dia cylinder or similar box trap. IMO if you want to stock HBG for good survival with your existing CC (1.5 lb, abt 16") then stock HBG at least 3" and better use 4"-5" stocked ASAP.

If these HBG are fed daily expect them to be 6.5"-8.5" by October. Fed twice a week in a crowded CC, natural food shortage pond then expect them to be 5"-6.5" by October. Focus on removing as many CC as possible before adding HBG.

When you feed the fish you should be able to get a fairly good idea of how many CC you have present.

Automated feeders are the way to go if you aren't at the pond on a regular daily basis.

I would not put LMB in there, but go with HSB.

If adding regular BG, I would only stock males. But, I don't know if it's OK to do so from a public BOW in Texas. Read up on how to do a salt dip on the incoming fish if not purchased from a fish supplier.

The GSF only spawn annually. BG have a rolling, never ending, warm weather spawn. The goal is to match the predator/prey population. It's a worthy goal but is tough to pull off without management.

Lots of people want a self sustaining pond. The only way I know to do that is channel cats, feeders and some long seines. Get them out at 2 to 3 pounds and restock 8 inch ones. They will spawn but the progeny seldom survives predation.

Thanks for the additional info.. We have removed 5 more catfish. 4 were between 1lb and 1.5lb, while the other one was 5lb!.. I'll fish with the GSF more to make sure there are no more 4 to 5lb fish before adding anything!.. Also, did some fishing for the GSF, the biggest one was about 4", the trap ones were 1 to 2..