2. # of HBG - you mention 500. on all the fish farm webistes i've visited that is grossly over the suggested qty for .25 avres.
I abandoned all the fish farm recommendations that I contacted and stuck with the forum's suggestions. I think the the fish farms recommendations are geared for "one size fits all". I did run my plan by Kurt (Harrison) before buying my fish from him and he gave it his blessing once I told him my plans. AND, if you look at Harrison's Stocking Calculator, you will find that they are suggesting adding a lot more species to your pond. I merely substituted the BG number for HBG, CC for HSB, and tweaked from their.
4. I'm a fan of starting bigger - any drawbacks to starting with 3-5" BG ( or HBG)instead of 1-3"?
The only drawback that I can think of to starting bigger is that few farms feed to grow their fish and larger fish may actually be older fish that have missed a year of good growth. If you are goinf to forgo the year of FHM only, I would consider going with larger fish, but I assure you, that year (or season) of FHM's would make up for starting bigger. My HBG went in at 3-5" long and by the end of the summer the record was 6" long and weighed 0.28 pounds. The recent record is now just over 1/2 pound (14 months later).
5. What about adding Redear?
I would add redear (RES) to control snails which in turn reduces black spot disease (a parasite). I ended up adding 90 RES because Kurt gave me 40+ extra in fear that they might suffer the trip home in barrels. They did very well so I added them. My pond has ample snails and still has grub parasites.
One of my threads that lead me to the above advise...
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=37268&Number=486999#Post486999
