Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Enlarging pond - stock now, or after?

Hello,
I've currently got a 1/4 acre ground water pond this is just being finished. It was dug with a dragline. My plan is to double it's size next year as money comes available. So the question I've been pondering is when to stock it. Can I stock it this year knowing that it will be significantly disturbed next year? Will the fish survive next year's work? Or should I wait until next year to stock?

To throw in another factor, it's very possible that I will enlarge it again in year 3.

I would not. Maybe stock Gambusia (Mosquito Fish) and Fat Head Minnows. Both are very hardy and relatively easy to find. Besides that don't add anything else. And intead of making it bigger every year just save up and make it as big as you want to make it when the funds are availible.

I would put the $$ aside and do both year's work at the same time.

When I renovated my pond, I was able to corral the existing fish in a small section, dam it off from where we were working and have at it. Once we were completed, we breached the dam, the fish went to the deeper portion of the pond and we re-contoured the bottom of the now shallower end.

The water WAS muddy during the renovation, but I had an aerator going and I only lost 1 BG IIRC. I didn't feed during that time, but I did put 20# of FHM in with the LMB, BG, RES and CC that were sequestered for the renovation.

There's a thread in pond renovation from Feb 2009 showing what I did to the pond. I think it's called "My Pond Renovation".

Thanks for the input. I'm now thinking of maybe some put and take stocking for the fall/winter/spring and then go from there.