Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Unwanted bluegill in SMB, yp pond

Good news is RES are not known to overpopulate and stunt. Adult YP will feed on small BG and RES as it gets cooler.

Cody Note - The bad news is RES do not make very many youngsters for a decent contribution to the forage fish base. IMO RES are used mainly for snail control and reducing the numbers of snails that contribute to the life cycle of numerous fish parasites. I would never use RES as a good forage fish specie. Lots of pond owners that stock RES very rarely if ever see them unless the RES happened to be pellet trained.

RES IMO tend to be more of a deeper water fish and this feature makes them more or very vulnerable to predation compared to BG that frequent the shallows and more near shore areas with denser cover as better refuge and protection from predation. Thus the life style habit of RES is not conducive to long term survival of the YOY that generally have low density due to spawning habits of RES. .