Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose What's this hot mess going to turn into?

So... Four y/o new pond upstate NY about 1/2 acre. 14ft deepest, at least 10ft for half. Some shallow area less than 1ft with grasses and some cat tail starting. Didnt do much for habitat but rock piles boulder clusters. Some wood debris and small trees falls in there. Good shoreline grasses.

So I'm am not interested in managing a fish population, or feeding them. Tbh I don't fish but I friends and their kids that do so I thought just "throw some stuff in". I know. Not good. Heres what I've done.

Year 1 I added fat heads and shiners. They populated really well. Theres a population of what we think are pumpkinseed sunfish that came in from another pond I used to partially fill this one. By year 2, also Lots of turtles and water snakes, and bullfrogs tadpoles. Fall year 2 I added 50 perch (2-3 inches), but they disappeared and I never saw them, and year 3 and the pond had a stable mix of sunfish, minnows, turtles and snakes.... Nothing overpopulated. This this year 4, we saw a perch ribbon in the spring and to my surprise our friend just caught one to, about 7-8 inches, so I guess they were there hiding all year 3! Now, in year 4, my friends just rehomed some bass in it - 6 largish ones 1-1.5 lbs, and 10 small ones like 6 inches. I imagine those large bass are going to pretty much fill up on all the goodies. My wife is worried they'll eat the painted turtles and baby snappers- that's what she likes.

So, without management or feeding, any predictions on this mess will evolve into. Pond seems healthy with plankton and color. People like to swim in it. Will it overpopulate with stunted fish of some sort, and or will populations find a balance of some sort? What do people predict? As for management, my friends could come over and harvest some fish if that needed? I do have an aeration system I have not installed yet, and I'm on the fence about installing it or not. The pond freezes over pretty hard in winter and we skate on it. What difference will adding bottom diffusion make?

Thanks for any thought you all have!!!

Welcome to the forum Jim.
This just might be a fascinating experiment for all of us if you continue to post.
Were the bass large mouth or small mouth? That could make a really big difference in the fish outcome. And the dangers for the little snappers and painteds. If the bass are small mouths, you've got a good long term mix of fun. If large mouths, you might lose your perch and the pumpkinseeds may struggle to recruit. Some turtles will get "et".
In any event it may be foolish to try to predict what will happen. Our saying is "It depends".
After several years of fish reproduction, you may have the setup for winter kill from oxygen depletion and toxic gas buildup if the pond is frozen for several months. Clearing the snow will allow underwater plants and plankton to produce some 02. Running an aerator with diffuser set in a shallow area of the pond well away from where you'll be skating will allow noxious gases to dissipate and 02 to dissolve for the fish. If you were to run the air in winter, it might be adviseable to fence off an area anywhere near the open water to absolutely keep the skaters away. And, to periodically auger some ice thickiness test holes elsewhere in the ice.

Well said 4C

Thanks DD. I was tempted to encourage Jim to add some GSF....but thought only you, JHAP, and Dave in El Dorado CA would understand that GSF are people, too. haha

Ongoing balance in a pond is the exception. Unbalance is the most common state. That is not a problem and is the status of 80% of the ponds in the US. If you are not concerned about the fish status (management), then just watch and enjoy.

Thank you 4C. I will go ahead and install the aerator in the shallows away from our skating area. Does aeration have to be on all the time in the winter or can I run it a few days on and off?

Thanks, I'd prefer to have a stable mix of species even if they don't get giant, but still exciting to catch. I checked with my friend and he thinks he put large mouth in the pond so, unfortunately, looks like that choice may knock down some of the other species I've got in there. But as you said, I guess I'll find out.

Knowledge is the starting point. Watch and id as many types and likely numbers and condition of the fish. You have lots of options using a few adult stocker fish once you find out the status of things.

Jim, my experience with winter aeration is that it is not necessary to run it all the time. There is a substantial reservoir of O2 in the pond water going into winter.
I believe our experts will say that if a pond is ice covered for more than a month at a time, some open water from running an aerator is beneficial. And, especially if you are removing snow cover for skating, sunlight will reach vegetation prompting photosynthesis. I'll shut off my air pump for periods during winter.Some winters I've waited for a few weeks after the pond has frozen to fire up the aeration. As my air hose enters the pond water from an above ground location, I have to watch that I don't have an ice plug in the hose at the water level. By turning on the pump on a warmer afternoon, I haven't experienced a problem.
Something I find fascinating to watch is the air plume growing under the unbroken surface of the pond ice and how it seeks an escape until a hole finally opens above the diffuser.
YMMV

Pond with 14 ft depth and 3+" of snow cover will hold dissolved oxygen(DO) for around 4 to 6 weeks depending on age of the pond and amount or depth of bottom muck. More bottom muck consumes more DO quicker. DO loss starts from the bottom and gradually over time DO loss moves toward the ice cover to the top.
Water clarity also plays a role in how deep sunlight penetrates through ice cover. You want sunlight penetrating the ice cover. Clearer ice allows more sunlight into the pond for phytoplankton DO production. If you regularly remove some snow for ice skateing you should not need to aerate the pond during winter. If you do aerate in winter, in Fall you can pull the diffuser into 3-4ft of water to keep a open ice hole from the shoreline outward for sunlight penetration. Then run diffuser daily enough (few to several hours) to remelt and reopen an ice free area. When the open hole refreezes with clear ice and no snow on top you should not need to remelt the ice free area.

Thank you. This is what I will try. We get thick ice can be frozen with snow cover for months. If we don't remove snow for skating I'll fire up the aeration.