Thanks to you both (QuarterAcre & Bill Cody) for your input on this. I think I will have early struggles with turbidity but I'm hoping they will self-resolve based on the good water clarity I had in the pond before renovation. Then again, the pond was 60+ years old, so it had plenty of time to settle out
I'll hold off on the expense of aeration until sometime within the 1-2 years, I think, depending on how quickly I can get turbidity down and how much microorganic growth I get going.
I would be all for waiting a full year for stocking, except... EVERY time we talk about the pond my 3.5yo boy talks with great excitement about catching fish, which he loved before we drained it about 14 months ago. I'm not going to be able to resist putting some BG in there at least.
I'll certainly look into the hybrids. I haven't quite reached the "stocking plan" part of this process yet and don't know anything about the pros and cons of the hybrid species but it looks like those decisions will be coming up soon!
