So, is this realistic for stocking :
HBD - 250ea 3-5" (or more)
RES - 100ea 1-3" (or more)
FHM - 3LBS
I hesitate to advise on stocking numbers as my experience is very limited and it depends so much on all the variables. Your numbers look safe if your pellet feeding. The RES # may be excessive depending on your snail populations, but still safe (they eat other stuff).
- And best place to purchase the food?
I get my food straight from Optimal online, delivered to my door. No complaints at all.
The place i'm getting them from does not carry HSB - SO, i suppose it'd be wise to NOT sub those for LGM...and instead wait and locate HSB later...right?Thanks
I would source the HSB upon stocking the HBG. Those HBG will make babies the first summer and the YOY will need something (HSB) to keep their numbers in check. If you wait a year then you will want to stock larger HSB that can eat the larger second generation HBG. They are even harder to come by in a larger size.
LMB can and will take care of the YOY HBG and I would bet that they would run out of forage and overpopulate/stunt in a few years. This is not a bad thing if your goal is larger HBG, but the larger number of LMB would be taking up valuable capacity in your pond and you would miss out on that rare occasion when a HSB take your drag out and heads to the other side of the pond.
