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

If a person wanted to stock 10 LBS. fathead minnows 500 BG and I wanted Red ear
also whats the number recommended

Hey, ozarker. I'm no expert, but from what I've read and heard from those who are, you might want to stock about 100 RE with your 500 BG. Most people go for 80 to 90 percent BG (CNBG down in southern climes) and 20 to 10 percent RE. RE are good for controlling snails that carry parasites, so are helpful in keeping the other fish healthy.

How large is your pond? In my pond it was recommended to stock about 20%RES to CNBG if you are stocking 500 BG prob go with 100 RES



Pat W

What are the goals for your pond? Will you pellet feed, aerate? Then you can get an accurate answer...

^^^^^^^^ What he said.

10%-20% RES is about right in generalities.

My pond is 3 acres we had a four inch rain Oct. 2014 and it is still holding water very well water surface may be 1 acer I've almost 60 acres runoff i will aerate and pellet feed I want RE in my pond Don't plan on stocking last of April or May What's wrong with stocking CNBG 500 and RE 500 10 lb. fatheads in a year then bass and catfish I've herd RE are a lout of fun they don't reproduce compared to BG

Ozarker, I think the reason why most people go for 80/20 or 90/10 CNBG/Re is that the CNBG take feed and RE don't. CMBG are also usually more aggressive biters on artificial lures, I think. Maybe the experts will know further reasons, I do not. As you say, RE are great fish and they do get large.

One thing that would concern me if I were in your shoes is the 60 acres of watershed going into 1 or even 3 acre pond. You might face some issues with too much water all at once. However, I don't know how much precipitation you get, nor the soils, nor the topography. If you have fairly flat terrain with absorbent soil and moderate rainfall, you might be fine. Just something you might check on with a pond pro.

ozarker, if you are in Missouri, I would suggest BG over CNBG as aslightly colder than average winter here will kill CNBG. Central Arkansas loses most of their CNBG stock about every 5 years on average.

20% Redear Sunfish, or just the addition of RES and maintaining a 10:1 ratio of BG:LMB is common. RES are a bonus fish, not contributing significantly to the forage supply and intended mainly to control snails, the intermediate host for grubs that could infest you fish.

Where are you located? If southern Missouri Ozarks, in an unfed, non-aerated pond, you would want to stock about 750BG and 250 RES with 20 pounds of FHM per surface acre of the anticipated full pool. Followed with 75 LMB per acre in the fall or next spring. You can stock well before full pool since the fish will be small and there will be plenty of water volume for the fish.

Southern MO Ozarks in a typical hardwood forest runoff need roughly 15 acres watershed per surface acre of pond, so 60 acres of watershed will be great!

I went with 20% red ears. But I am also stocking 100 lbs of crawfish (I know they like) and hoping to get established before my lmb are stocked. And I am trying to get some fresh water shrimp to take hold also, for the RES.
Tracy

Tracy

You got a good supplier for the mudbugs?
It's almost time



Pat

Good thinking, IMHO. I used to fish False River in central Lousiana and the number one bait for RES were small live crawfish we caught in ditches. Everything ate grass shrimp, but the RES seemed to particularly enjoy crunching those crawfish!

Thanks fellows for the info. just didn't want to short my pond on RE