Russ, Not much new to say on the combo of perch and SMB yet. Bass yet to go in. I have given the perch the winter and spring to get some size before I add the SMB. They go in sometime around July I think. But thus far I havent seen any dead perch and sometimes see a quick dark of the perch as they chase the fatheads. I think the perch are now about 7 - 8 inches and growing well. I still have significant fathead populations ( in the millions ) and I only have about 75 perch in the pond that I know of. I have more than enough frogs and tadpoles ( over 250 frogs and I am guessing 2- 3,000 bullfrog pollywogs ) I am sort of hoping the Heron will help me out there. Thus as you could expect when you get great advice from the experts here the pond is in very good shape and the balance is great as well. I still can't wait to get the SMB in there, but I have learned and seen the value of patience in pond eco systems. Also as a side note the cheap aereation system ( $80 ) is working great and keeping the pond fairly clean and nice O2 levels. I do have some Algae but the 8 wood ducks who visit daily try to take care of that. Stay tuned as the next phase of this continues with the SMB.
