Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding How much and what do I feed?

My first pond is full and I am getting my fish next week.
I am stocking it with
50 bass
200 catfish
75 BG
100 HBG
25 Red ear bream
4lbs minnows

From what I understand only the catfish and HBG will eat the feed?

How much should I feed each day? what should I feed?

Thanks

The experts here will give you good guidance, but to my amateur eyes it looks like you are heavy on the predators and light on the forage. In my case I was advised to first put in the forage fish, let them spawn, and only next year add predators (LMB).

Also, BG will definitely take feed, but RES are more reluctant. LMB will take feed only if they are feed trained.

Yeah, you are way too heavy on predators vs forage. How big is the pond, where are you located(nearest town) and what are your goals?

Have you done a water test?

What size of each species are you stocking?

Thanks for the replies.

The pond is .4 acres but is deep - 15-16'. It holds 686,000 gallons.

I know nothing about this other than what I have been reading on here. I did subsribe to the magazine but have not received it yet. The fish numbers are what was recommended but the hatchery. I do plan on having aerators and feeding.

I am close to Lubbock.

No water test. We are kind of out of the way as far as ponds go. Not a lot around here and no hatcheries close. I either get these fish when they come to town on the 14th (12 days) or the next visit is August.

What size?

50 bass 2-3"
200 catfish 8-11"
75 BG 1-3"
100 HBG 1-3"
25 Red ear bream 1-3"
4lbs minnows

The goals for the pond are mainly fishing for my kids and nieces and nephews. All together there are about a dozen of them. Not looking for any trophy fish just want the kids to be able to catch fish and have fun. We also like eating a lot of catfish. Kind of a long story but I started digging this pond 3 years ago and it took way longer than it should have to complete. The kids are not getting any younger and I want to get this thing up and running so they can catch fish before they grow up.

If these stocking numbers are way off what would you recommend?

It's already done, but: You have too many bass and catfish. Feed the channel cats well, and take most of them out to eat next summer when they will be 3 to 4 pounds. Try to get your bass numbers down to about 15 or so at the same time. Just my opinion, FWIW.

It's not done - fish won't be here till the 14th......



What should I get? They told me to go heavy on the catfish for the kids since they will eat the feed. Should I cut back on them? Should I get more fatheads?

What confuses me is all these stocking places base their recommendations on surface acres. Couldn't a pond that is 1 acre and 20' deep support a heck of a lot more fish than a pond 1acre and 5' deep? I am a novice but seems like volume is the important factor. Wouldn't a 20 acre pond 1 foot deep have the same amount of water as a 1 acre pond 20 foot deep?

Lubbock; I'm originally from North of there with the "closest" town being Muleshoe. Lots of memories.

Volumes and depth don't help much except during a drought. Generally only the top 7 or 8 ft get enough sunlight to support phytoplankton blooms which is the basis for pond life and oxygen. But, during a drought, you'll be dang glad that you have it. Fish can go down there but can't stay and live in it. That can be helped by adding oxygenation. In a drought, that 1/2 acre can become 1/3 or less. During a not so recent drought, my approx. 1.5 acre pond became 1/4 to 1/3 acre and I lost dang near all of my fish.

Here's the problem with bass and bluegills in anything less than an acre or more. Bass and bluegills are both spawning machines. Only bluegills spawn enough to feed bass and only bass can control bluegills. But, sooner or later, the bass get over crowded and over eat their food supply. All fish need forage that is 1/4 to 1/3 their body supply. It's a matter of calories obtained vs energy expended. A 2 or 3 pound bass can't thrive on minnows and you wind up with a whole bunch of skinny/stunted bass and some bluegills that are too big for the bass to eat.

For a West Texas pond your size, I often recommend about 5 pounds of fathead minnows, about 50 redears that only spawn annually, and about 75 catfish. The fatheads won't last long but will jump start the feeding of the predators. That's their job. The redears eat the snails that become flukes that can infect the fish. Catch and eat the cats when they get to a couple of pounds. They're cheap to replace and fun for the kids and kids that never really grow up to catch. They also only spawn annually and 99.9% of the babies get eaten.

I'm not a pro but I'm also not trying to sell fish. This stuff is just my opinion based on some experience and mistakes that I've made and seen. My biggest mistake is probably the one that I haven't made yet.

Thanks. I guess the only good thing about my pond is it is lined and well fed. It catches virtually zero runoff. I am setting up a float valve on the well so it will maintain a constant level. I am adding two diffusers at the bottom to keep it well aerated.

Fatheads are cheap. I will go with the 5 lbs. Would it be good to add a few pounds on a regular basis? The fish truck only comes here about twice a year from what I can tell but it stops 2 miles from house and it would be really easy for me to get and add more on a regular basis.

So you think I should just get the fatheads, redears, and catfish and skip the bass and bluegills all together?

I think I might add 200 hybrid bluegills to that mix. They aren't true hybrids but have limited spawns and can get nice sized. Dang near all of the offspring will get eaten so they seldom get out of hand. Have you checked the water for PH and alkilinity? You can do that with swimming pool test strips. It's not real accurate but gets pretty close.

Ya know, I would have bet that you had that pond lined. Too sandy not to. It won't hurt to add the fatheads as long as you keep an eye on them to make sure they get eaten.

You will need to set up a feeder for the cats. They won't feed in a North Texas winter so start when the weather hits about 70 to 75 degrees. I would recommend Purina Game Fish Chow. It's 32% protein and all they need. BTW, some of those cats you won't be able to catch. They get hook shy and narrow minded. I still have 2 from stocking nearly 15 years ago.

Dave,
How big are those two CC you have from 15 years ago?

Dave, two questions.

First, how do you know those two catfish are still alive? Have you seen them?

Second, have you considered using a European style hair rig? They are designed for wary fish. Personally, I'd use fluorocarbon line as the "hair" -- harder for fish to detect when chewing -- and for real tough situations would throw out the bait for several days prior to fishing, just to condition the fish.

A video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgdct6IRWbU

I see them pretty regularly. Not that big; 7 or 8 pounds. Heck, I don't want to catch them. I've pulled baits away from them. They are the last of 125.

My neighbor has some in his 1.4 acre that are about 10 yrs or so, and over 20 pounds.

Thanks again. I haven't yet but will. I am out of town working until next weekend. My son has several aquariums and is big into aquarium fish and we use the water straight out of the well and he has had not problems so it can't be too bad.

Not a pro but I'll offer up some food for thought....

Others on the forum will tell you they have experience that CC do no come to feed right away. Your pond is brand new (1 week from dry till now filled with well water?) so there are very few small critters yet for the CC to munch on while they get over their pellet feeding shyness. Everything you are stocking are of a size that are within the mouthgap of your 8-11 inch CC. Including the 4 lbs of minnows (I assume FHM), you are stocking roughly 1200 to 1400 fish besides the CC. If 200 hungry CC eat 1 fish each a day it will not be long before you out of forage.

IMO FWIW I would reduce the size of the CC stockers to 4 to 6 inches and only stock 100. Typical stocking ratio of LMB to BG is 1 LMB to 30 BG. I would reduce your LMB to 25 (you have a lot of potential biomass in the CC). I would increase the BG to at least 350 and the RES to 50.

Not a pro...just my 1 cent

I would also make sure you have spawning habitat for the FHM. The LMB will be counting on them to start spawning immediately to provide forage. Even a few submerged pallets would work for the FHM.

Typically, I've seen the pros recommend stocking the FHM first and letting them spawn for at least a few months before stocking other fish.

I have 1000's of new FHM offspring in my new .28 acre pond along with the approximately 56 eight inch CC. The CC are still feed shy but are not making a dent in the FHM. Before it filled, I put in a big gravel bar of river rock and gravel in the shallow end. I bet the CC are foraging there at night for crawdads. There are a lot of crawdad holes around, so probably a lot of little ones in the rocks and gravel.

Did you stock the FHM before the CC so they could spawn for a while first?

Both stocked early March this year.

Bdog,

IMO good data point from John. Sounds like he had success stocking smaller 6 to 8 inch CC with FHM at the same time. Equivalent stocking rate for your .4 acre would be 80 CC. One variable seems to be that John's pond also had alternate forage in the form of craws which you do not have.

With all that said...As always, "It Depends!" Your advanced size 8 to 11 inch CC might start hitting pellets right away. If that happens, and you put them on full feed, that should greatly increase the likeliness that your other fish will survive just fine. I would still think about reducing the number of CC or at least begin harvesting them when they reach about a pound. If left to get to 2 pounds before harvest, you may have water quality issues as the 200 CC alone would be equivalent to 1000 pounds/acre from a capacity standpoint.

Your aeration will definitely be needed.

Good luck and please post back what you end up stocking. Exciting time for you and we all look forward to reading about your pond as you move forward!

Bill D.