""I had envisioned a mostly RES heavy pond and introducing just enough predators to keep the BG from over populating.""
In my experiences about the only way you can create a RES heavy pond is to have them in there by themselves. If you don't want them to stunt and want then to get bigger you will need to thin their numbers and this is usually done with predators. In a RES heavy pond what do we expect them to eat to grow well? The pond will not produce enough snails to feed a lot or very many RES. I don't think RES compete well with other sunfish for non-mollusk items.
I think the GSF reproduction will soon (1-3yrs) outpace the BG predation.
You have a dilemma. I'm not sure that a RES "heavy" pond is a realistic goal. Someone please prove me wrong with an example. As above: What do RES eat for good, fast growth when they are abundant and RES are the dominant sunfish in a pond?
Your problem is contamination by GSF. Without bass in my experience GSF become the dominant fish in most habitats.
You might want to redefine your goals and use HBG instead of RES or include LMB in the stocking. LMB will prey heavily on the GSF then resort eating whatever is often most commonly encountered.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/14/14 03:05 PM.
