Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Looking for a unique solution - maybe its HSB

Short version

What: New pond, between 1/4 to 1/3 acre, 6 feet deep in the middle area, located in North Texas
Goal: Very clear water potentially achieved by trying to remove as much phosphate as possible with heavy aeration
How: use floating wetlands and plants to pull phosphate from water and to complete with algae.
Fishing: Enjoy catch and release mostly and occasionally a little fried fish.
Question: I am considering adding fish to the pond. After reading a number of post on this forum, I think I need a species of minnow to eat the algae and then something to eat the minnows. Would HSB and FHM or GS be a good mix? As the HSB reach a certain age I would harvest and restock with younger HSB fish. Or should I go with a few LMB and let them try to survive on tadpoles, crawfish. etc. I know they might be starving however all the natural food in the pond that moves would be eaten.

If this experiment does not work, I will probably go with the traditional BG and LMB approach that many on this site recommend.



For anyone who might enjoy the backstory:


M wife and I purchased a home with a 1/4 - 1/3 acre existing pond about 5 months ago. The property is located in what is called a flow-age easement for the corp of engineers. This means that if it rains really for a long time the lake behind the property will rise up and engulf the pond. This has only happened 4 times in 70 years with that last time in 2016.

When I purchase the property, the water looked like chocolate milk. You could put your hand in the water and not see any of your fingers. So after searching the internet and finding pond boss, I got the idea as to what might be the problem.

So I stuck a sump pump in a bucket, attached PVC and dropped in the pond. 8 days later I had a fish kill. Lots of buffalo and carp, 100s of very large shad, maybe 3 bluegill, 1 bass and a couple of cats. So after drying out the pond and burying 40 lbs of rotten fish, I have a blank slate.

I have decided my first goal will be a little different the normal. I would like to work on a system that will creates the highest level of water quality with the lowest turbidity. The idea is to try to make this a swimming pond first and the goal of the fish is to help achieve this. I also enjoy a little catch and release fishing but I am usually too lazy to clean and cook.

After reading up on swimming ponds, It seems that the key is aeration and low phosphorous. Most advise on swimming ponds is to keep the pond sequestered from any storm water or runoff. My pond is located in a natural drainage area that covers about 5 acres of residential property. So I have accepted that fact that it will receive natural phosphate loading.

After the one recent rainy week, the pond filled up about 60%. I went to test the water. It was surprisingly clear. The ph was 7.4, total alkalinity was 60, and phosphate was a surprising very low number of 200 ppb. I still need to check the hardiness.

I have been researching floating wetlands and plan to order a 300 sq foot mat from Beemats out of Florida. The floating wetland is basically floats on the pond with plants on top and the roots in the water. The roots pull phosphorus and nutrients from the water and into the plants. When the plants are large, you remove them and replace with new plants.

So if you can do this with plants, maybe I could also do this with fish.

A few days ago, I was looking around the pond. Due to the hot weather, an algae bloom had started. I also spotted many tadpoles and a water snake. So I guess the amphibians and reptiles were already moving in. This started me thinking that I needed a few predators in the pond or the herbivores may get out of control. Then I started thinking that maybe a herbivore that eats algae and a predator that eats the herbivores would be a great system to remove phosphorus and nutrients.

HSB seems like a great answer as they are the only predator that does not overall multiply. Picking either a minnow or BG, something else seems like a tricky choice.

Any advice?

Welcome to the forums Scott,

I have often thought about raising only HSB and minnows for supplemental feed and using pellet feed as the main source. This is my first year with a stocked pond and the HSB has been an eye opener to what can be done with pellet feed and fish growth. So, take my conversation as just that, it really can not be taken as advise, but I can appreciate you train of thought. If you can successfully sustain the HSB in your swimming pond you can eliminate the nipping problem that common panfish tend to pose. The HSB tend to be pretty nervous and stay away from any activity, but they don't like the heat much, so, be careful about fishing for them during the heat of the summer. Ladder stocking would likely be recommended to wrt HSB. I suppose tilapia might also be an algae control option, but do your research wrt to them because I think they will survive winters in TX and may require special management to suit your goals.

It sounds like a very cool project! Do you have any rhyme or reason with regards to the amount of floating plants that you will be using to improve water clarity? I am currently struggling with estimating how many square feet of water hyacinths it would take to noticeably reduce the nutrient load in my small pond.

Scott W welcome to the PBF. My first thought is can the pond be protected from the nearby lake? Maybe a Levey? This could reduce the chances of you losing your fish that you stock and or gaining fish that you don't want. And since you are in Tex and can have Tilapia, I would look into doing so. You did not mention what part of Texas you are located in and that may make a difference on the decision of stocking Tp because Tp can survive the winters in parts of Texas which would reduce restocking each year. I like the HSB stocking if you don't loose them in high rain events. Stocking Tp and HSB together might work well for your plans. And you could add some red ear sunfish (RES) also along with bg to increase forage fish for the HSB.


Last fall I introduced 50-4" hsb to my daughters 1/2 acre pond along with 25 lbs of FHM's and RES. I added 50- 5 to 7" bg the spring before we stocked the HSB. She is located in Louisiana, so no Tp can be stocked. It's an ongoing experiment but right now it looks like its going pretty good.

Read these 2 fact sheets for the aquaponics principals involved. You are using them in a different manner.

https://srac.tamu.edu/serveFactSheet/284

https://srac.tamu.edu/serveFactSheet/286

Have you ever eaten HSB? Their palatability is subjective (read as: I don't like them, but I know people who do).

Thanks for all the replies, ideas and links to the aquaponics. Few answers to the questions:

- The property backs up to Lake Grapevine which is close to Dallas/ Ft Worth. Part of the easement on the property allows them to flood my property as needed. This is part of the deal for living next to this lake. So I know its a gamble about how long I can keep anything before needing to start over.

- I am unsure as to how many square feed of floating wetlands I will need to clear the water. My guess is that it will be a lot. Maybe a 1,000 square feet. I envision that the mats will also create a very nice underwater structure for the fish. utube Beemats if you want more info on the mats.. utube swimming ponds if you want to see some of these ideas. Regarding plants the suggestion from beemats was "to try to pick species that are good nutrient accumulators and attractive. Rushes like Juncus and Eleocharis are good. So are sedges like Carex and flowering aquatics like Iris, Pontederia, Sagittaria and Canna".

- I will look into the Tp idea... thanks for the tip!

My wife and I love the HSB we have had in our pond for 2 1/2 years. We added more last fall to continue replacing what we harvest. I think the key to eating HSB is the cleaning process. There are many videos on youtube to help and it is not difficult. We personally love the flavor. My wife bakes them with lemon and it is a clean, white, flaky meat. They have a little fish flavor but nothing like catfish which we don't prefer. They do not reproduce and eat pellets well. When we started they were 8 in. and are now over 20 in. There is not much to dislike. They do not seem to hunt BG but we have others for that. Just another opinion from a nonexpert but this is our experience.

Thats great input and thank you for sharing. Any guess as to what they eat naturally (outside of pellets)?

If you are interested, Todd Overton with Overtons fisheries out of Buffalo usually offers some larger sized along with other sized HSB for pond stocking.

I have seen our HSB catch small LMB in deeper water. I know it's not highly thought of but we added gizzard shad a few years back and they produce a lot of food for our LMB, BCP, and HSB. It has worked for us so far. I might add our pond is a 10 A. rock quarry that is 10 to 35 ft. deep. They will eat almost anything swimming in open water they can get in their mouth. Our LMB recruitment is always high so I know they help with that. We have friends with smaller ponds that have HSB and they do very well. They do have a smaller mouth so that limits how large their prey can be. They are very fast and hunt in packs and chase schools of prey to the surface and sometimes come out of the water chasing them down. They are extremely fun to catch.

Be sure to understand GS before you use them.This was from South Dakota.

GShad in southern waters are IMO only appropriate for trophy bass waters. They may work in some specific situations but the risk is high. Northern waters where there is a potential of winter kill of GS is a bit different.

Gizzard Shad