Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Fathead & Shiners

Quick thank you to Anderson Minnows.. I wanted to add some additional forage to my small pond to keep my SMB plump during the winter..

So I decided to buy a about #25 of FH and GSH from Anderson Minnows. (that's 5 boxes) I called up Max who runs their FedEx operations, and he got them out for me in just a couple of days. I'd ordered from them in the past, so they had my payment info on file, but apparently my expiration date had expired. They shipped them out anyway before contacting me which was great because I was scheduled to be off to get the fish when they arrived. Thousands of new forage fish now schooling around my pond... and for some reason my SMB always seem happier chasing and trapping schools of fish than running around for YOY BG.

I know there are questions from time to time on where to order fish. I found a reference about them on PB and always think its good to return the favor. Good prices, good fish, and good service.

AaronM, great report.

Can you tell us more about how your smallies are doing? Any pictures?

How has your SMB growth been?

Hey Sunil, they've been good. I wasn't sure they'd make it through the summer here, but they seemed to do just fine. I'm doing my best not to fish for them too often but when I have they've been nice and plump. It's been interesting watching them with the BG YOY.

They don't feed the same way as chasing minnows or shiners. With the minnows they hunt in packs. With the BG, I never really see them eating except occasionally when the YOY are snacking on pellets and venture over a drop-off or something.. I was worried they weren't eating the BG as often, but when I catch the SMB, they're always fat. And the volume of the YOY BG does seem to be declining in the last 2 months. (declining some, not much as they're a lot of the little guys)

They clearly have a preference for the more fusiform fish and I'm interested to see how that progresses as they age.

I'll get a couple of pics this weekend.

AaronM -- does your pond have just SMB and the BG?? If so, all of us here would be interested in watching what happens over time!

You may have reported this information earlier on the forum, so pardon me. However, can you tell us when you stocked the pond, and then describe it? How big, how deep, how clear, how much submergent aquatic vegetation?

Many thanks for your time!