Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose I made a mistake and want to correct it

I went fishing for some bluegill. I wanted to find some in the 4-7" range to put in my pond. I think I may have caught some green sunfish too. Then I read that you don't want to put greenies in your pond. I cannot tell the difference in greenies and small bluegill. I always thought that bluegill had the blue dot on their gill and orange bellies. I am confused on exactly what I put in. I tried to search for pics, but the posts were older posts and the pics were gone. I need help so I can get rid of these now before they spawn next year. Anyone have pics of both in the 4-7" range so I can see the differences???

Start with this.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000034

Then go to this.

http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=22;t=000021

Then let us know what you think.

You may have less of a problem than you think, even if you decide you don't want the greenies; what else is in your pond in the way of predators?

no predators currently. I will stock LMB next year in the 12" range. BG from 2-4" were stocked this year. I put in about 22 fish that may or may not have been greenies in a 1 acre pond.

Man it is tough telling those fish apart. When they are big, not too much of a problem. SOme look like bluegills and some look like green sunfish. Some also look like the hybrids. They are very easy to catch. Yesterday I caught 9 of the 22 in about 10 minutes. I was going to take them out and I got confused on whether I should. I threw them back but I know I can catch them again if I need to. Maybe I should just catch them and take them out so I know for sure. I know I stocked 600 BG so they will be there.

Try this one - lots of pics and discussion on HBG and GSF.


HBG pic/question - http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=000439

Mike, some of us don't consider Green Sunfish a real problem. If you think about it, they spawn once per year and are bulet shaped. They slide down a basses gullet pretty easily.

BG spawn multiple times and should easily out compete them.

I wouldn't purposely stock them (maybe I would) but I wouldn't sweat it. In my opinion, they are a beautiful fish that outfights a bluegill.

Mike,

Greenies and BG are very easy to tell apart. The greenies are not nearly as "tall", and have a much larger mouth. RES and longear sunfish for example, are much harder to tell apart from BG when they are small.

Compare the two types of fish in this photo. The only fish in the photo that are sexually mature fish are the largest GSF (lower right) and possibly the largest BG.

As mentioned above, GSF tend to be a more narrow bodied fish. Notice the mouth of the GSF is noticably larger than that of the BG. Look for the back or farthest most part of the jaw. Jaw mandible of GSF extends at least to a line vertical to the eye. BG jaw mandible falls quite a bit short of reaching the front of the eye. Also GSF will always have at least one or several emerald streaks or lines on the gill cover and the bgill gill cover is just about always plain on fish the size you are talking about catching - never any emerald streaks. HyBG will have coloration and markings that are inbetween these two fish and often one type of emerald streak. See some of the referenced photos. Coloration and markings on these fish are fairly normal, although expect to see somewhat lighter or darker coloration or markings when the fish come from light or dark waters.

BE aware that there could be other types or species of sunfishes in the pond you are sampling.

Those photos are very good examples. Alot of the fish had the stripes going down them like the bluegill but also had the emerald streaks on the gill plate. I am wondering if those are hybrids. Today I went to a neighbors pond to see what they had in it. Alot of little fish came through a drain pipe from their pond into mine when we had alot of rain. The fish looked liked the one in the upper right photo, so I probably have more greenies than I thought. I guess we will just go with it and see what happens. No way would I drain my pond to start over and if they are in the neighbors pond, they will always be in my pond. Plus I don't want Jeff coming down here and picketing my driveway !!!

Mike, do they look like this?








These are Warmouth and they have a similar shape to that of Green Sunfish. They also occupy a similar niche.

mike, as a sitting board executive with the GSA, i feel compelled to chime in on this thread.

i apologize for not recalling previous posts from you describing yer pond and perhaps you know this already, but the theory is that if you have bass, the GSF will serve to provide a preferred forage and will not survive in great numbers relative to yer BG. they will for a time compete for forage with the bass but eventually will be decimated for reasons of being both preferred bass forage and having lower reproduction rates than the BG. in time you may also produce some trohpy GSF....>9 inches....for those few individuals who survive.

IMHO, its o.k. to have GSF.