I've read here on PBF on a few occasions that RES eat primarily snails and that lack of enough or proper forage will limit the number of RES a pond can support.
Yet in this article by VanDeHay and Willis specifically about RES, they never mention this limitation.
Redear Sunfish This article has been linked to several times here on PBF, so many of you will already have read it.
Some of the highlights I picked out that suggest the RES is a more diversified predator beyond just snails:
Redear sunfish are known to grow faster and achieve larger sizes than bluegill found in the same waters (Pflieger 1997).
Redear sunfish primarily feed on the bottom and seldom feed on surface insects, especially compared to bluegill. Like many fishes, newly hatched redear sunfish feed on zooplankton. Also, like many fishes, adults will feed on a variety of food organisms, depending on what is abundant and what is vulnerable. (my emphasis)
Common food items are midge larvae, snails, mayfly larvae and dragonfly/damselfly larvae.
four small Missouri ponds that ranged from only 0.1 to 0.4 acres. The largemouth bass averaged 58 pounds per acre (range of 27 to 118), while the redear sunfish averaged 298 pounds per acre (range was 232 to 356).
One pond had just a few bluegills and another pond had some green sunfish, but redears made up most of the sunfish biomass. How could this be unless they are eating more than just snails?
I have RES in my forage pond with an abundance of FHM. I know Shorty has fed RES FHM's in an aquarium so we know they will eat them. But do they eat many of them in a wild environment?
Any thoughts?
