Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Needing some advice about BG and RES.

Is it smart to stock BG and RES together? Not sure what the pros and cons are. When they cross bread, what is the outcome, do the offspring grow smaller or bigger than either of the parents? Will this hurt my pond in the future? Is it a a bad idea to mix these two?

RES are mostly put in ponds to keep parasites under control which are spread by heron and other bird's droppings. Even becomes more important if swimming in the pond. Not bad to mix these two. RES are a great fish to catch.

Check this older thread out:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=335292#Post335292

TDK +1 on what Fish said. RES are a great maintenance fish for sure and they don't normally cross breed with BG. Oh maybe from time to time but unless I'm mistaken RES only breed like once a year and BG can breed 5 or 6 times a year... but if they did x breed I don't think it would be smaller that's for sure! Considering RES can grow up to 3 to 4 pounds...

RC

Thanks for the info guys. What happens when they cross bread? What is the offspring called, what about size and coloration?

RES are a bit harder to catch.... Look at threds by Shorty (the RES guru) I didn't care in my puddle if the BG mixed with other kinds of BG,, kinda a mutt pond- very interesting to see nature at its finest

RE X BG crosses are not a problem in normally stocked ponds. They are very nice fish (size etc.).

BG x RES hybrids are welcome, and numerous in our ponds. Very good fighters, they grow large, take pelleted feed easily, and still possess the pharyngeal plate. I consider it a win-win.

Sprkplug, So you have BG and HBG? I am going with BG and I want to go with HBG of CNBG also. What's ur thoughts on plus or minus for either?

I have both HBG and male (mostly)BG in one pond, and northern BG in the others. In my opinion HBG are a niche fish, which will have the best chance of reaching their full potential when utilized in a setting that caters to them. That doesn't mean they won't grow large in a typical "balanced" pond scenario, but I don't think you will see numbers of above average, outstanding hybrids if you're using one BOW to try and fulfill multiple goals, species wise.

HBG will outgrow native BG, at least mine do, for the first couple years. They really come out of the gate strong. Ultimate size potential belongs to the BG, either northern or coppernose. Their larger mouth gape allows them to utilize larger forage, and they are both predatory and opportunistic. They also fight much harder than a comparably sized BG. First gen hybrids are heavily male biased, which can be either good or bad depending upon your goals. If you're worried about the chances of BG overrunning your pond and stunting, then HBG might be a good fit. If you need a source of forage for your bass, I can almost guarantee you will be disappointed with hybrids.

Small HBG, like small BG, will bite sedentary swimmers. Both will "outgrow" this tendency. HBG are very often touted as a good kids fish, with the explanation they are always willing to bite a hook. They can certainly be aggressive, but never doubt that they can become hookshy and wary, especially in low density, heavily pressured environments where catch and release is the order of the day.

Sprkplug, Would putting 1000 BG, 1000 CNBG and 250 RES for diversity be a bad idea? Kind of wanted some different colors and types of BG.

In my opinion there's no problem with stocking those fish together, provided you don't mind some crosses. It's the numbers you list that might concern me.

Ok, I was just going by the recommendations from hatchery. Should have known they were too high. What would your numbers be on these 3 if you were stocking them in my size pond?
Also, I will have a fountain soon.

TKD I have in my main pond (3 acres)stocked both BG and RES originally. Then later when I built my sediment pond ( 1/10th acre) it was stocked with CNBG and RES. My sediment pond flows into my main pond so now I have CNBG migrating into my main pond as well as I have trapped and line caught several hundred CNBG and transferred to my main pond. There also have been numerous HBG fingerlings that have came from that sediment pond from some GSF that either came in from contaminated stock or from high water flows or some other unknown source. I also had a few HBG contamination (have caught under 50 out of my initial stocking) in my original BG stocking in my main pond.

Originally I removed every HBG I caught and moved them to my old pond thinking they would be undesirable. As time went on I came to appreciate the HBG and now actively transfer and seek out hybridization of the CNBG with RES and GSF in my sediment pond.

In other words I think the HBG add to my positive fishing experience and I like them mixed in with my RES, BG, CNBG and a very few GSF. Time will tell if I just end up with a mess because the largest CNBG that are in my main pond now are only in the 7-8" range. But so far so good. Two or three years from now I can probably give you a more definitive answer. But from my non-expert standpoint view, I would have no problems mixing those fish because that is exactly what I have done. I really like the hybrids and are one of my favorite fish to catch.

I'm probably pushing the northern edge of where CNBG will work so the jury is still out on how well they will turn out. So far so good but we have not had a severe winter since stocking them. Your location that should be no problem at all.

Sprkplug and SNRUB, Do you think the numbers that I put a couple post back are good numbers or should I adjust them?

What fish are you planning on stocking, and how big is the pond? I like around 1000 BG per acre generally, but that is highly variable depending upon your goals, and species present.

Excellent summary.

This is a link to what I originally stocked in the 3 acre pond. I'm not the correct person to recomend stocking rates. I stocked what Wallace Fish Farms recomended for a balanced pond (not focused on either LMB or BG trophy size fish). This was before I discovered PBForum. The stocking rate seems to be ok to date..

snrub stocking rate