Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking pond from other farm ponds??

It all depends, and it depends on numerous things some of which have been thoughtfully listed. Another couple of things to consider are:

1. Do you know the stocking history of the donor pond? Has anyone introduced non-hatchery raised fish?. Has anyone introduced water that could have contained any fish viruses or bacteria or other organisms that harbored these organisms? Does a stream enter the donor pond? All things that should raise a red flag regarding getting fish for stocking from this pond.

2. Are you introducing adequate numbers or ratios of fish so when the first spawns occur that it produces a half-way normal balance of both forage fish and predator. The number of hatchlings of each group (forage & predator) that SURVIVE is almost always based on the number of existing numbers and sizes of fish already in the pond. Uneven or unbalanced numbers of adults perpetuates out-of-balance sitatuations or populations for future generations. Of course this is not so improtant if your goal is a forage fish pond or a single species pond.

3. The older a fish is the more likely it will contain a latent or active disease (bacterium or virus) or internal-external parasite. This is true because of the simple fact that the older fish have been around longer to be exposed to more possibilities. With largemouth bass virus disease being now relatively widespread and continuing to further spread, I would be very hesitant of introducing non-hatchery raised larger, LM bass from any body of water into my pond. I have enough problems raising quality fish without having to also contend with newly, introduced diseases.

4. Theo touched on the topic of adequate number of forage fish to feed each introduced predator. If one does not expect the introduced predators to loose weight and body condition (general health or well being) then for each predator one should add at least 5 to 6 pounds of adequately sized forage fish. I think this number should be closer to 10 lbs of forage per each predator since a predator in theory converts fish biomass at a ratio of around 10:1. Ten pounds of forage per each predator will hopefully allow for a surplus of forage fish so some forage fish, brood fish can be around to spawn the next spring to produce the young fish for the next generation.

These initially stocked forage fish should ideally have lengths about 3-4 times smaller than the length of the predator. Although this length ratio can vary somewhat based on the species of forage fish used. For example, a 16" bass needs to be eating mostly 4"-5" bgill to get good weight gain. If a large predator (example- 16" LMbass) has to subsist on 2"-3" forage fish then the bass will usually lose weight. This is because the bass expends more energy catching forage fish than the amount of energy or calories contained in the collective meal of forage fish. It is basically the same as a growing person (young adult) physically working hard all day and then for each daily meal all he gets is a 1000 calorie meal. Ideally this hard working person should have more than 2500-3000 calories to stay healthy and keep growing properly.