Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New guy getting ready to stock a new pond

One thing you may want to do when you get your FHM, banded killies and GSH is hand sort them. Sometimes unwanted fish are mixed in... In a new pond, just a few unwanted fish can lead to an early mess. Hand sorting the fish as they go in greatly reduces this risk. Also, do a search on here for proper ways to acclimate your fish before adding them to your pond to increase survival rates.

FHM:


males maybe a dark brown almost black color with a yellowish white patch on their body.

banded killies:


GSH:


If you get any fish that look unusual, get a picture and keep them alive if you can. A bucket and small aquarium aerator will work. Post the pic on here and we'll let you know what it is and if it should go in your pond or not...

Hi CJBS2003:
Stocked minnows yesterday; 100 shiners 1000 FH, in both cases I think more or less, doubt they were counted exactly. About 10 of the shiners were DEAD ON ARRIVAL I would not say floaters as most of them sunk. Two FH not very healthy but still twitching threw all of the dead minnows out on the bank. The fat heads must be a lot tougher than the shiners. Or maybe Zetts personnel handled them rougher, they were in separate bags. Most of the minnows were very lively in the bags and seemed to be in very good shape.

Used an aquarium dip net to transfer the minnows to the pond from a 5 gallon bucket, so as to inspect them. I set the bags in the pond for 10-15 minuets so the temperatures would balance. The minnows came in large polyethylene bags in blue water. It must have been some additive. I did not ask Zetts what, as they were boxed when I got them and I did not open the boxes until I got them to the pond.

There was only one minnow that looked like something else; it looked like a horn chub anyway on the bank with it not in pond.

Zetts people said they could not get the Bull Minnows-Banded Killifish yet so I will stock them later. They said they would have them in two weeks or so and will call me.

The gal I dealt with (paid) said the Red Gill was like a BG and not a Shell Cracker or Red Ear also not a Pumpkinseed so it sound like I am going to have to talk to Zetts personally to get it straight what they are; she said they would have RES for sale next year as they had a lot of recent requests for them. So I will get the RES from Southern States "Fishwagon" this fall

GSH are definitely less hardy the FHM. I think FHM could darn near live in toilet water and thrive! GSH are not quite so adaptable...

Definitely get those bull minnows/banded killies, they'll be a great addition to your forage base.

If you hand sorted them and only found 1 questionable fish, that is good. The "horny head" chub may have been a male FHM. They actually get horny protrusions on their heads when they are sexually mature and in the breeding season.

I have 1 exception to the FHM rule, but it probably doesn't apply to panhandleguy, the first season of my pond I stocked FHM & GSH, by the next spring I never saw the FHM again but the GSH have thrived.
I think it was due to the 5.5 PH of the water, the chart I have shows the min. critical range of FHM at near 5.5, where the GSH min. is 4.5 .

http://books.google.com/books?id=rlIf013...snum=1#PPA28,M1