Cecil Baird says for pellet trained bass he had up to 400 bass up to 6 lbs. in a .62 acre pond with no issues. The pond received fresh water input from an overflow of a small trout pond.
For conservative calculation let's say each bass averaged 2.5 lbs (16.5" Std Lgn-Wt) which calculates to 1612 lbs bass biomass. In reality the poundage was more like 2451 lb/ac since the average bass size was more like 3.8 to 4.0 lbs. I saw pictures of those bass at harvest.
Since AB13's 0.05 ac pond may not have well water in-flow, I will use 1600lb/acre as bass biomass weight. Thus AB13 could raise 80 lbs of pellet trained bass/fish in his 0.05ac pond. This assumes good aeration, attention to water quality issues, and an occasional small harvest fish harvest. Periodic harvest is very good management because it temporarily reduces standing crop (fish biomass) and allows the ecosystem to periodically "rest" by not being at full capacity ('biological metabolic speed').
The fish capacity could be comprised of 40 two lb bass or 20 4 lb bass, or some fish mixture consisting of about 50-80 lbs optimum weight. Note the 80 pound weight should not be maintained constantly due to potential water quality issues. Ideally and wisely one should be maintaining fewer fishes that are in the process of growing in good water quality toward the 60-80 pound pre-harvest weight rather than maintaining the 80+ lb weight as constant biomass. This concept is similar to farmers and ranchers growing animals as a crop. Maintain the herd with a mixture of various aged animals. New young ones, middle age ones and older ones that are harvested.
Said all of the above to repeat my earlier post and say, I think the AB13 could safely raise 10-20 LMB and/or HSB that are being fed pellets and actively growing in an aerated 0.05 ac pond. 20 fish weighting 3 lbs each is 60 pounds. Remember to periodically harvest a few and restock. You should not constantly run the ecosystem at full speed (capacity) or periodically the system fails i.e. fish kills.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/12/14 10:52 AM.
