Thanks for the responses! Lots of food for thought in here.
Welcome. Interesting plan. I would suggest you start by getting all the info on each species. Try FishBase as a source. You need to know fecundity, food items and possible interactions of the species. One-half acre is not large, so you need to focus on carrying capacity with those species in your water (productivity). You do not need many large (carp like fish) in a half-acre.
http://fishbase.org/search.phpAll species expect for the CC naturally occur together, so I think they are the only questionable addition. But I think you’re right that 50 blackfish may be a heavy load for a 1/2 acre. It may be better to under stock and see how they do.
Dylan, that sounds like an interesting and fun pond project!
(I DO NOT want to rain on your parade, but rather want to get you ready for the pond management project ahead of you.) There are many threads on Pond Boss, by actual management experts using well-documented pond species combinations, that require subsequent intervention to get the pond back towards the optimal balance.
I would love it if your pond was 100% self-sustaining, but I expect that will be unlikely. Get your good plan in place. Then do your actual stocking as close as possible to the planned stocking. (Recently the fish suppliers have not always had the species and/or sizes available that people needed for their ponds, so you may have to adjust.)
Then monitor your pond fish populations. Then make your adjustments as needed. Fishing and eating will hopefully be a big part of the adjustments. However, you may also have to add trapping and/or seining to cull some species. You may also have to have some supplemental stockings to improve the pond as it matures.
1.) Is your initial stocking going to be from fish suppliers or from friends' ponds and local waterways? If the latter, then make sure you are absolutely following the California laws.
2.) When the rains start to fill your pond, is it possible for floodwaters to introduce unwanted species from other bodies of water? If so, then that may complicate your management efforts if you get some unwanted species reproducing in your pond (such as bluegill or green sunfish).
Good luck on your new pond venture!
Point taken on the self-sustaining aspect. I guess minimal input as possible is the goal. I don’t mind monitoring and adjusting, but it’s quite a drive to get these fish and they wont be readily available.
1) the tule perch came from a creek, but the rest of the fish are coming from a supplier. It’s still a little up on the air, but he thinks he’ll have a good crop of both the Sacramento species this spring.
2) no issue with introduced species. Thankfully we are on an elevated outcropping and the pond is from damming a small meadow area. There is a decent size runoff basin draining into it, but no creeks or standing water remotely close to it other than a half mile down the hill.
Interesting stocking and this will be a neat project to follow!
For right now, I'd recommend NOT having any spawning habitat in there for the CC. You can always put it in later, but for now I think it'd be better if you didn't have them reproducing in the pond - just so you can keep an eye on the other species without a commonly and easily available species getting out of hand.
Do/will the Sac Perch prey upon the CC? How large of a CC can they eat? That is my main concern about the habitat in there for the CC to reproduce. CC are the 2nd smartest fish in North America, and if only a few keep avoiding being caught, you can easily have CC in there that can eat any of the fish that reproduce in the pond. The CC turn piscivorous around 3# in size, and if there aren't enough predators in there to control them, they may become a problem.
Will you have plenty of spawning habitat in there for the Sac Perch?
Also a good point. I’m much more interested in the native species than the catfish, I just enjoy them for eating. The Sac perch should eat CC, but would probably be limited to fry and up to a several inches. Based on their habits and size they probably would be equivalent to SMB, but maybe a bit more size limited. I’ll skip them for now
The sac perch have similar breeding patterns as BG and RES, hence the competition. I created a 50x50 cove that’s probably 3-4’ in depth that has a few inches of pea gravel. Hopefully this will be their spawning zone as it’s easily observed and has good cover.
