[My advice is know your fish supplier. Most all have their own methods of transporting and holding fish for resale that are the reasons why I utilize my homemade fish rinse system.[/quote]
I'll make sure I do my homework on this and act as necessary. And, I'll 100% act on your warnings to REMIND them at every juncture.
This is obviously really important. I'll talk with Jones Monday about their exact fish planting day- of- delivery procedure and see what they say. fwiw: I talked with someone from the local Univ. of TN agricultural college- recommended to me by TN fish& wildlife and he was very helpful; recommended a couple of fish farms that he says are quite reliable and they use them all the time. However, neither of these two fish farms have SBS, tilapia, YP; very limited selection. Essentially BG / LMB et al. Everybody has forage fish in abundance. For that matter, neither did Trophy Pond, a very large operation that serves ponds/lakes up to 20 acres+. Jones has everything. Interesting.
[1. Back on Feb 20 you said "”4) YP sound like great option, however not legal in Tennessee for stocking. If you have suggestions for acquiring them, that would be great.””
Yellow Perch
Not sure where you got that information about YP as illegal in TN......Page 8 for species recommended to not stock. Not recommended although not illegal.]
Guess I misunderstood the issue on this. Yes, YP are definitely "legal" in TN. But when I asked Jones about getting YP, they said they are not allowed to stock them in TN. So that might be more Ohio regulation-based. Regardless, I don't see that anyone else has them available....not sure where I'd get them, but in any case, you say below that it's probably not a good plan for me to stock them anyway.
[For your goals I would initially stay with the minnow, SBS and for the predator use HSB as the easiest species to manage and the best species to overall grow well in an all natural food based small TN pond. SBS are much better adapted to grow large compared to YP in TN. Claims are made that the SBS can grow up to 3 lbs which is a huge sunfish. If you can grow SBS to 12” and 2lbs you are doing very well for a ¼ ac pond. You will get praise. My test sample of SBS grew to 8” in just one year. The test is ongoing. I expect 10” at a full 2yrs old.]
Sounds good....definitely learning towards your suggestion of HSB as the big predator in the pond, and to your advice on which fish to focus on.
2. Added Water.
Outside water can be okay for adding to the pond IF it is filtered at the discharge through 500 um mesh also called a proper mesh sized filter sock. Creek water when running clear with low nutrient concentrations can be very okay if properly filtered......
Moot point, as I get what you're saying and I'm going to proceed on the assumption that ANY outside water contains an element of risk and it's better to avoid it entirely. I'll rely on the rains.
[Another important water to not add to the swimming pond is the fish transport water.........Do a water rinse for ALL added fish........
Gonna try to be rigorous in all of this.
[3. Vegetation.
Educate yourself to pros and cons of vegetation species that can be beneficial for a pond. And then ask questions on this forum........
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=440475#Post440475]
I've got quite the reading list going......important stuff. And I WILL ask questions.
[4. Tilapia –
Do your best to reduce amount of algae before getting tilapia. Try to find and buy a smelt dipping net........By reducing the amount of algae in spring pre-TP, the new stockers don't have to 'play a big catch up' to get the algae problem under control.]
Sounds logical. I do like the idea of Tilapia in the pond, depending on how things go w/the algae.....sounds like it would work out, but we'll see.
[5. Unwanted Fish.
’’””Unwanted fish: not sure how to avoid this risk, except to go with a respected/trustworthy vendor.”
Uninvited fish are IMO a major problem for those that have spent lots of careful effort planning the pond fishery. Reproducing unwanted fish can be a definite long term problem in a pond.......
This is what I would advise for those new small pond owners who do not want to get unwanted fish.......1. Be sure to tell the fish farm employee when ordering your fish that it is important to not get unwanted fish mixed into your order. Tell them their reputation is at stake here. Be present if fish are delivered......repeat your request of no mixed species.....tell them this is important to you..........fish net.....fish rinse.....]
GOT IT.
[Fish Sources]
I'll be doing lots of research on this, including their specific process in planting the fish.
Thanks Bill....as always.
Last edited by BJ Nick; 03/02/24 04:34 PM.
