Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain First Stockings

I completed the first round of stocking for my little pond today. It's about 1/10th acre and I hope to get a few meals of perch out of it every year. I've put in spotfin shiners, FHM and YP. If anyone remembers my goldfish posts, they're all dead.

First the spotfins on May 16th. Ordered 20 from Jonah's Aquarium, I think 23 shipped. All arrived in great condition and he even gave me a discount to the price listed on his site. No morts that I've seen to date.



And today was 2 lbs of FHM and 30 YP from Fingerlakes Aquaculture. This one didn't go quite as smoothly. I let him put everything in the same bag and in retrospect, it was too much. After a two hour trip home and a bit more than an hour of acclimation, I think the oxygen levels were getting quite low. I lost one FHM, one YP and most of the perch were pretty lethargic. I'm fairly certain a few of the "FHM" were actually shiners, maybe emeralds??? Sorry, didn't think to get pics. He did give me a few extra YP and a few extra ounces of forage.



My palm is 3.75" straight across so I figure this one was about 4.75". As near as I can guess, most were 4-5" but a few approached 6". I didn't take the time to measure any but the dead one.



I hung out for more than an hour after the YP went in and I didn't see any floaters so I'm optimistic. To be clear, the supplier did ask if I wanted separate bags. We both should've known better considering the distance. Even if I lose a couple more, I'll consider it a cheap lesson.

Weird how it's a little depressing when that last fish swims out of sight and you're done. All in all, a good day.

Did you see any reproduction from the spotfin shiners before you stocked the YP? I just hope they don't eat them before they get a chance to reproduce... Make sure you build at least a couple spawning structures for them to use.

I haven't seen hide nor hair of anything.

Most of the spotfins were in the 2.5" - 3" range I think. It didn't occur to me that the perch would be big enough to pose a serious danger - are they?

For the spawning structures, is there a preferred depth? Near weed cover or open?

By the way, the YP are supposedly 2 years old. My thinking is that I'm unlikely to get explosive growth, even with feeding. Am I right in that thought?

I highly doubt your spotfins had a chance to reproduce and they are probably now in the belly of your yp. Hopefully the fhm spawn quickly before getting devoured as well. It is advised that you let your forage species get 2-3 months (at least) to establish themselves and spawn before you introduce your predators.