Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New quarter acre pond

I think that if you stock it with the forage minnows, and wait an year, then stock the "predators", that will put you in a time frame of 2-3 years before you need the aerator. If your schedule is more consistent than mine, then hand feeding is O.K. Don't forget to make your fish cover/structure before the pond is built. Read the threads on that in the archives. Cover for large and small fish, and cover in travel routes.

The fish in my pond would forget what a pellet looks like if they relied on me to feed them by hand.

Don't put the cart before the horse. I wouldn't stock GC until you had a weed problem, AND the weeds were the species that the GC like.

I agree with CJ on his assessment of aerating and feeding, and by doing so from when the predators are stocked will result in their best growth. But the biomass will be low enough the first your that they are in the pond that you probably will be able to get away without it.