Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations fish size

I stocked my 1 ac pond in mid March with CNBG and RE. Most fish were 2-4". Recent rains have sent water levels and fish over spillway. I was back behind the pond saving what I could and noticed that most of the RE were still 2-3". Most all of the CNBG I have caught have been 4-5". Could the smaller RE be new spawn or just the original stockers?
I thougt that RE were faster growing than CNBG. Was I wrong?
My bream are feed daily. Are the CNBG just outgrowing the RE because of the feed?

Calvin, did you see the RES when they went in back in March? I have had "8 inch to 10 inch" fish stocked that measured 7.5 inches when caught a month later.

They could easily be growing slower than the CNBG, with the latter on feed, especially if there is not a lot of suitable Redear forage for them. BG out grow RES in some ponds, the opposite is true in others - it all depends on what forage is available for the fish.

A southern tier PM would have a much better idea if the opposite situation (RES growing do well they spawned and have 2"-3" offspring already) could be true in LA. It couldn't happen like that up here.

Small ones washed over spillway and larger ones were not. Both about the same growth rate . Possible that CNBG eating pellets are growing faster than RES which are not.

I'm hoping just the smaller ones washed over. I had to wait for the river (that was running out of my pond) to fall before I could see what was back there. Most of the fish I retrived were in small holes are hung up in the laid over rye grass.

Calvin, I stocked RES fingerlings into my new pond 9 weeks ago. The only other fish I have are FH and there's plenty of them. I kept some of the RES in an aquarium for a few weeks before stocking them so I know they averaged 1 1/4 inches long. I've been observing them in the shallow areas and they have grown quite a bit. The largest ones look to be almost 3 inches long and I would say they average 2 1/2 inches.

When I stocked the RES the FH were spawning so there was a lot of fry for them to eat. I was still seeing newly hatched fry until maybe two weeks ago, so the RES started out with as much food as they could eat.

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Present whereabouts unknown.