Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Speckle Belly sunfish pond

ozark - Malone Fish Farm suggests using SBS at 200-300 per ACRE. If it were my 0.5 ac pond I would start with NO more than 120 in 1/2 ac unless you use SMB (24-35 in 1/2ac) AND some HSB (as 10-14) to help control any SBS reproduction that might escape what the smallmouth can locate and eat for the fishery. If you add some 10+ HSB then you could IMO add 150 SBS into 0.5 ac. A 12" SMB & HSB weigh about one pound. 2 lb SMB & HSB are around 15" long and 2-3 years old. Plan for the predators to grow and add weight to the total fish poundage capacity of the pond. See more about pond carrying capacity later.

In my experience the fewer SBS that you stock the faster and larger they will grow. This all relates to the fish weight carrying capacity of the pond. The more one pushes the limits of a pond ecosystem the more fish health stressors that become involved. Everything grows better when less stress is involved and water quality is better. There are repercussuions and trade offs when one pushes the limits of a pond ecosystem and this usually starts with and involves reduced water quality. Every living thing in the pond depends on good water quality. High water quality is very important when trying to grow big healthy fish. If you are just trying to grow quantity and not necessarily QUALITY then stock the pond above the suggested limit.

If it were mine I would stock the lower density that allows for good healthy fast growth of the fish. Remember when 100 SBS grow to 1.5 lbs (12") this equates to 300 lbs of SBS per acre PLUS the collective weight of the predators. Likely 50-70 lbs or more of bass type predators. Now the pond is at close to 400 lbs of fish per acre - a limit that is pushed IMO TOO high. REMEMBER when using hybrid sunfish,,,, wise management suggests periodically supplimental stocking every 1-3 years some more hybrid sunfish as replacements of those ocassionlly lost.

Remember SBS have a life span and do not live much longer than 5-8 years depending on conditions. Consider yourself fortunate if the original stockers live 9-10 years. If you feed high protein / high carbohydrate pellets IMO the SBS hybrids will not live much longer than 6-7 years. Have a management plan as the original stockers age out and exhibit mortality.


Carrying capacity is the animal load a system can support. This, in turn, directly results in the production capacity, which is the amount (usually numbers and pounds) of animals that a system can produce for the final usage or current standing crop. Standing crop does change as fish die, reproduce and get harvested. When the carrying capacity is reached, fish growth will slow down until some fish die or are removed. Removing fish allows remaining fish to grow or become more numerous. In your case,, I think you want fish to continue growing larger instead of becoming more numerous.

I would save this post to help you wifh fish management as the pond ages.
Please do us a favor and periodically return here and update us on your adventures with using SBS.