""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.
Ok, thanks. LMB stocking in modest numbers was in the original plan and still is. I was going to let the RES spawn this year and add the LMB next year.
I would agree that my goals may not be realistic. If I had it to do over, I would have nuked the standing water (was only about 4" of water 20' in diameter. The pond was that close to being entirely dried up), Put only FHM and RES in the pond, then added the predator as needed to control the RES. I realize once the LMB were introduced eventually they would over populate, but was hoping it would take a few years if stocking numbers were low to begin with.
The above plan might not have even succeeded, but it would have had a better chance of doing so (at least for a few years) than with the GSF and BG in there.
The tens of thousands of snails in my main pond was what gave me the idea that a RES pond might work. Along with FHM for food. But I imagine you are right, what looks like a lot of snails probably would not be enough of a food source for the RES. So probably a poor goal.
I suspect now it will become a traditional BG/LMB pond with some RES and some pesky GSF thrown in. Worst case it will become over populated with small stunted sunfish or over populated with LMB, like about 90% of the ponds in this area that receive little to no management. Most of them are GSF/LMB ponds unless the owner had a specific interest in ponds. Many were stocked out of creeks and whatever was caught thrown into the pond and whatever lived and thrived is what is there. Actually managing the fish is a foreign idea to a lot of farmers.
Like I said, it is not my main pond. So if it does not turn out perfect it is not the end of the world for me. But I would like the challenge of trying to do something with it by managing around the problems.
Maybe I'll get lucky and that was the only GSF in there.................LOL. Dream on
Thanks for all the thought and good info. Not only for this post but the many others you and others have posted that have helped me understand ponds much better than I did a year ago.
