Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat NEW POND!

I envy your good relations with the neighbor Cougar, that is killer news. My situation was not so joyous, but I really do not want to relive the nightmare here, let's just say it involved the property line and the runoff that crosses my place and fills my neighbors pond, among the guise of a fence and some cows! Took the joy out of the whole project and ruined the summer.
On to the question from Cougar: I have already done what you are talking about, but to answer the question, I stocked the FHM first in April of '08, the pond was 4' or so from capacity (judging by the water level on the levee, I'm not too keen on water measurement and average dept, the state delivered my CC and BG fingerlings in October '08, and now in April '09, thanks to some PB expertise, I will forego the crappie and go with 300 1-3" RES (the 3-4" ones were expensive, double the 1-3")and 10 more pounds of FHM, of the rosy red variety(the substantial winds of late pulveried a few hundred of the minnows hatched last spring, so I'm adding more).
I have read the thread on feeding, but can you guys clue me in on the details for such small fish, floating or sinking?

Strizzo

Hey welcome to the forum!
To harken back to a management goal you stated earlier: If you really want to establish a Crappie fishery in a smallish pond you need to bear in mind the difficulty in achieving a proper balance. Lots of pondmeisters far more experienced than I have tried and failed.
A potential solution for you might be looking into Hybrid Crappie. It's a WC/BC cross and their offspring are inferior [subject to predation] thus limiting their ability to overpopulate. Theorhetically this would serve as an ideal solution for small pond owners who insist on stocking Crappie [like you and me!].
Arkansas Pond Stockers carries the hybrid crappie I believe - Rainman has done some research on this topic and knows far more than myself. Anyone else with any hybrid experience please chime in!

Thanks, I have not heard of hybrid crappie. Do you have any? Are their young able to reproduce? I'll have to look into that. My wife really wants to stock some, I think I'm gonna hold off for now. These sound like a good alternative. Do you have any experience with crawfish? I have read some posts here and some info from Missouri Dept. of Conservation, I thought maybe for the RES(?).