With 3 acres you can easily harvest 30 lbs a year (10 lbs/acre) in even the least fertile water. In fact, there is no reason nor any incentive to feed the fish you plan to grow. Fish will grow just as fast in an infertile pond as in a very fertile one .... provided .... the number of mouths to feed is appropriate for the fertility.
I've worked up spreadsheet scenarios in the past for the combination you're considering. If you like I will post it in this thread and it will give you an idea of a possible stocking plan. You can play with SS by changing numbers.
As I see it your main challenge is on the predator side. It is very important that you have sufficient numbers of them to inhibit reproduction of the HBG so that growth remains good. Because they won't reproduce, they must remain in sufficient number and size to keep growth of the HBG on track.
A second challenge is that the F1 HBG will typically be superior to their offspring. And so it is desirable to have an annual stocking of the F1 HBG to serve as "recruitment". Now here's the rub. There's no guarantee that fingerlings will survive in the presence of mature HSB predators.
This particular stocking group has great potential but it isn't without challenges without sources to advanced fingerlings.
Something I have considered, but have no practical experience with is a HSB/minnow combination. The GSH might seem to be a good choice but I would personally avoid them with this combination. What one would want is a highly prolific minnow that never gets too large for the HSB that will be harvested. Fatheads may work but you will need to provide habitat for them or possibly protect a breeding population behind a netted enclosure that would keep HSB out but allow the Fatheads (or offspring) to get out. If your pond drains into to waters harboring red shiner, they may be a very good choice as they do not need to defend their eggs and breed from April to September. Gambusia, also native to Arkansas may also be a good choice. If you limit the HSB sufficiently and harvest annually then it seems wholly plausible that the minnows could be self sustaining.
The challenge with this scenario is how do you keep other fish (like LMB, BH, and GSH) from invading your pond? Once there, the food chain would change to the detriment of the HSB.
I attached a SS with HSB stocked at 17 fish per acre (51 annually). I assumed the HSB would grow .75 lbs annually ... which may not be correct. They could grow faster or slower in which case the stocking rate and harvest could be adjusted. This scenario seeks a maximum biomass of HSB at 40 lb/acre and for HSB to reach the harvest size of 14" by end of their second year. Harvest is important to success. Once they reach 14" they should be harvested in order to improve survival of the "recruitment stockings" and to improve the growth of the younger year classes. If insufficiently harvested, they would overcome the food chain and eradicate the minnows. You will notice the scenario has the potential to produce 3 times your desired harvest. This should cover some mortality and possibly poaching, but in a self sustaining production system the harvest is absolutely necessary to keep production up. It would be like having a new pond perpetually. Because the HSB cannot reproduce and are harvested, they cannot overrun the food supply. Because the HSB don't overrun the food supply, enough minnows survive to maintain a population of them.
Last edited by jpsdad; 03/25/1909:26 PM.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
