Bill, I do have a very good forage population. I still go get some fresh SPS and BNM every other yr. Don't think it's necessary but it's always a good time.

The first yr I planted little clumps of Eel grass about 4' apart only along one shore. It doesn't spread real fast and took about 4-5 summers to fill that whole shore(100') to about 8' out. Did'nt want it but have Curly leaf pond weed and Chara but keep it pretty well in check. I have several X-mass trees sunk and marked. One is directly under my pier for the sake of newly hatched SFS. That ended up being a good surprise, because the larger predators started hanging around it and makes good fishin for the kids. I also planted about 6 hybrid Lily plants but they're mostly for looks. Also have a reef made of tires that is about 7' long and 5' tall in 10' of water.

My pond is only 1/4 acre so my predators are limited in #s. I have WE, YP, SMB, HSB, 3 RE, unwelcome hitchhiked in CC and put in some Tilapia each June.

"Any other advice"? OMG when I read that I had ta LOL. Of course I have tons of other advice but I'll be nice and limit it.
1 DON'T ASK ME FOR ADVICE!! If it weren't for this site and especially Cody and Cecil I'd have a hole full of water with many stunted unwanted fish and weeds. Yes, even the weeds would probably be stunted.
2 For all newbies and folks planning a pond these are some of the things I wish I had done.
A I should have had a written contract specifying exactly what I wanted. One of those things would have been a guarantee against leaks.
B Should have hand sorted every fish and plant that went in, no unwanted CC.
C Check in here and ask about anything you're planning to do. I put in 6 Koi without checkin and took 5 yrs ta get rid of.
3 Be patient, good things take time to develop. Besides the days, months and yrs slide by pretty darned fast. Tomorrow will be the tenth anniversary of my first post here. Probably should apologize to all who have had to withstand that but won't.
4 No matter what your goals and dreams are going in, don't lose any sleep over set backs and mistakes. One day I was watchin the grandkids playin along shore(of course not on the beach) and it dawned on me that they wouldn't care if the pond was only three ft deep and only housed turtles, snakes, tadpoles and crawdads. Make it FUN!!
5 Three 1/3 acre ponds are way better than a 1 acre pond.
6 Aerate

Ta quote Forrest, "And that's all I have ta say about that"

Last edited by Bob-O; 02/01/16 03:15 PM.
Do nature a favor, spay/neuter your pets and any weird friends or relatives.