Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations ESOX - FCR & SW

I doubt that the carrying capacity or standing stock of NP as the only predator is much different than that of LMB. I base this mainly on they are both predators and the amount of food to sustain each of them and get good or acceptable growth from them is similar for each of them. Maintenance diet as stunted fish for each of these species may also be similar. There is probably no studies of NP in a pond or lake by themselves such as the study by Buck and Thoits where they studied one species populations in Illinois. Standing crops of LMB in the Buck study ranged from 21 to 164 lbs/ac with the mean of 124lbs/ac from 8 ponds. Other studies noted LMB as single species reported maximum pounds as 94 to 200 lbs per acre. Thus total pounds per acre of LMB as single species can vary widely. Trying to compare standing weights for LMB and NP might not be too realistic or provide informative comparisons based on the variability among ponds. Scott & Crossman(S&C) reported that NP that estimated of 5 to 6 pounds of food is needed by NP to gain one pound of weight. Compare this to the widely accepted 10 pounds of food needed for LMB to gain one pound. These authors (S&C) noted that NP is a more successful competitor for space, food, and spawning sites compared to muskellunge.