Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Yellow perch temp & pop

What type of temperatures will Perch tollerate?
Will they surviv in central California?
What about over populating, do they do a good job of canabalizing on their own young?

1. You will get some excellent info on that here shortly.

2. What elevation are you at?

3. No.

Perch survive well in water temps all the way down to freezing, and all the way up to the mid-eighties.

From the information I've gleaned from Cecil, Bill and others is that YP will thrive and grow in water temperatures up to about 77 degrees. Between 77 and 82 might be considered sub-optimal but not highly stressful as long as other water parameters such as dissolved oxygen remain good. Above the low-eighties perch discontinue feeding and go into high stress mode. Some scientific evidence supports survival up to close to 88 degrees, but you can count on high mortality and disease.

The water temps in my pond peaked out last summer at 84-85 degrees with virtually zero mortality, but my dissolved oxygen was always high day and night. Observable feeding stopped in the low eighties.

YP will over populate and stunt if not managed properly. They need to be balanced by predation from fish or man.

3000' ele. But we get 100+degF temps. I know they will tolerate cold. I know bass eat their young pretty well but was wondering about perch and crappie. Do they eat pellets really good?

YP do well with pellets. I have never heard of feed trained crappie. Do you know your summer water temps? Cool nights often act to counter balance 100 F day temps effect on water temps., especially at elevation.

Robber, Yellow perch eat pellets well if trained. Additionally I have an article in Fish Farming news where a North Carolina strain was being farm raised, and was not only able to tolterate higher temps than more northern strains, but was feeding at higher temps. I'll be glad to dig it up if anyone is interested.

Another factor that may determine your success with them is the females need a minimal amount of cold water days to develope their eggs. Do you have that there?

The following link is a good source to read about their biology:

http://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/aquanic/ncrac/wpapers/YellowPerch11-21-03.pdf

One thing you may want to consider is what their status is in California. I know they are not native there. It's possible bringing them in may be a big, big, no no and could get you into some hot water. I know of other states that prohibit their import like Kentucky as they can be an invasive species and seriously impact native fish. They are doing serious damage in Maine by competing with the native brook trout.

Yes it gets cold here, and a little aeration during winter and Im sure I could drop the temp a few more degrees.

Yes, I would be interested in the article.
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Can yellow perch be crossed with nile perch
Now that would be interesting!

No chance of genetically crossing nile perch and yellow perch. Nile perch are not only in a different scientific genus but also in different Families and Orders. The two are not very closely related.

Once yellow perch get old and or large they have a more difficult time tolerating temperatures above 85F.

In addition there reproduction methods are entirly different so the cross attempt would have to be in the lab by stripped eggs and milt. That would sure be some strange DNA. Like Bill said no viability there.

Yes I looked up the scientific names to see if the first name was the same, no luck. Im sure I am not the first to check. The mad scientist in me need a project. 50# crappie, I guess only in my dreams . It has to be something big enough it will be able to eat small children whole :p .
I have though about how interesting it would be to have a pond with a wierd species of fish like the nile perch, tiger cat, wells cat. You guys really have me yearning for a few ponds and some big ole blue cats or something. SO YP are probably a poor idea, I may have to move farther north :p .