How big is your pond and what are the numbers and sizes of your different fish species? Crappie reproduce extremely prolifically and are prone to multiplying until they overconsume a pond's resource base and their growth is stunted. They also reproduce very early in a year and can grow large enough to eat that year's generation of other fish species before they are even born.

The biggest challenge to keeping crappie is maintaining enough predators to keep the crappie population from overshooting its own food supply. Very high numbers of largemouth can help. Hybrid striped bass are often recommended for controlling crappie, although you'd have to restock them once in a while they can't sustain a breeding population on their own. Flathead catfish can reduce stunting in panfish but are too large and aggressive for the vast majority of private bodies of water.