Todd, great post with some great follow-ups. Since you are a hatchery owner and need to sell fish, I commend you for your concern. It's all about balance and lots of things can go quickly wrong in a smaller pond. I've been trying to figure out the best game plan for 25 years. People like me, in an arid area, are walking a tightrope regarding balance and I've killed a lot of fish. I don't know the stats but would expect that the "average" pond is less than one acre. My guesstimate is that maybe 80% of the ponds are small and predator/prey balance is misunderstood and/or overlooked.
Your statement about stocking density being dependent on intensity of the management program is absolutely true. If a pond owner can't or doesn't want to manage, I often recommend HBG, CC and a feeder. This helps to somewhat eliminate Bruces "dreaded 15 minutes" when ponds get out of balance.
I explain balance, density, and conversion efficiency with some examples.
First, toss too many fish in a home aquarium, ignore cleaning and oxygenation, and see what happens. This usually happens in my forage ponds.
The next one gets a little longer and assumes that the pond owner knows something about cattle. I have always thought that the best ranch manager needs to consider himself as a grass farmer with grass as forage and cows as predators of that grass. The cows only job is conversion of forage into edible and marketable flesh. Too many poorly managed predators overgraze the forage with bad results to the cows, the land and the owners checkbook. Too few predators allow the forage to get out of control, improperly utilize the ground or impounded water and allow proliferation of undesireable forage. I seldom see understocked ecosystems whether it be water or land. IMO, too many people over fertilize both ecosystems. Successful raising of predators, whether fish or cows, mandates proper balance, maintenance and utilization of the ecosystem. Without a game plan the results are always predictable.
BTW, I've often asked new pond owners how many non neutered house cats they want.
