Rosey reds are a color strain of FHM. They will be eaten first due to their being more noticed. Generally all farm raised shiners are GSH. Shiners from the local bait shop could include wild caught shiners depending on the sources for the bait shop.

Crayfish - since your pond is new and if you have rock pile shelters and are stocking fingerling fish then 25-50 crayfish per 0.5 ac will be enough to seed the pond. More is okay. Generally the crayfish population will be proportionate to the amount of cover and habitat that they have to live in. They trive best in large rockpiles placed in the shallows and at the shoreline. It will be almost 2 yrs before the YP can eat an adult crayfish. This will give the crayfish a good head start providing your habitat is good and numerous offspring survive. Once you introduce SMB, they mature, then will key-in on foraging on crayfish and noticably reduce their numbers.

Forage diversity can also come from a few HBG. They reproduce minimally, grow well and large enough for table use. Many people can't 'tell' them from pure bluegill. Low reproduction is because most of the original stockers are males - maybe 1-2 females per 10 fish. Subsequent generations may have a higher percentage of females. If you harvest quite a few of them you will have to periodically restock to keep some larger ones present. Fish them hard if you don't like them and you can practically eliminate them.
See this summary about HBG if you have not already read it.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=256325#Post256325

Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/07/11 10:28 AM.

aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine -
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