I could write a book on how to mismanage a pond! If I had to guess, I would say all 4 unwanted species came in via upstream ponds in my watershed. I live in North Texas, and this pond was dug during the record drought last year when there was no water. This past May we got a massive amount of rain which filled everything up. My tank fills up from a seasonal creek and has a few ponds within a short swim. Some of the bullheads are already b/w 1-2 lbs, which tells me they didn't come in with the stockers. I also saw a big black bullhead swarm a couple of weeks after putting my fingerling bass in ... which tells me I'm going to be dealing with that problem for a while.
The funny thing is, I read this forum for over a year, and figured out the exact type of fish I wanted, planned the stockings to a T, went through all of the fish by hand, and the very first 2 fish caught out of the tank were a carp and a bullhead ... followed not too long after by a green sunfish. Oh well, the best laid plans of mice and men ... I guess.
