Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking my pond - NE Ohio

4-25RedLeg, read that post that Bill typed out and think about it for a day. Re-read it again and see what you missed. Re-read it a few days later and see what you still missed. There is so much information in that post that it can't be comprehended in just one or two readings.

To fully comprehend it, you have to order the back issues of the Pond Boss Magazine that Bill referenced, and read those articles. Many, many pond owners have no idea of all the intricacies of life in a pond, how changing one thing in the pond may change 3 other things in the pond that are totally unconnected (supposedly) and how much a fish's food intake has to change as that fish grows. Plus exactly how much natural food it actually takes to get fish to grow and keep on growing. The majority of pond owners don't know enough about their ponds to know what questions need to be asked. Kudos to you for finding this place, and wanting to learn. The only thing that I will ask is that you don't make this a short term visit. Don't just get the info that you think you need and run. It will help everyone here and also some people that haven't even found this place yet if you would keep giving us updates on what you did to the pond, how things are progressing and what you are seeing change in your pond as time goes on.

Bill has a Doctorate in identifying pond algae, and part of his business is managing ponds. We have very few people on here that post that are actually in the business of managing and stocking ponds for people. I would say that there are now 3 pond managers that have posted within the last year. Bob Lusk, Bill and myself. I am making sure that I save what Bill posted to re-read myself, and will refer to it again later.

I agree with Bill in asking "What is your definition of massive"? Remember, we are talking about something that has a finite life span, and yes, fish do grow their whole life, they don't grow at the same rate their whole life. They slow down as they get older. As the fish population in your pond ages and matures, the carrying capacity of the pond also has to be considered. Research carrying capacity for ponds and see how that changes if the fish are supplementally fed and what a properly designed aeration system will do to that carrying capacity.

I think Bill is understating the "trophy" YP. I think a 19" YP would be the equivalent of catching a 22 pound LMB. 17" YP would be like an 18# LMB. While I have heard a lot of people say they caught a YP over 16", I have yet had a person say "Yes, I did, here's a picture of it on a bump board to show it's length".

If you are re-thinking about supplementally feeding the YP in the pond, research the different brands of fish food. There are a lot of poor foods on the market, and really only less than a handful of good to great foods that recreational pond owners can get for their ponds. Be aware that a cheaper price per bag can be a more costly food. Confused? Say you could buy a 50# bag of fish food for $44.98 or a 40# bag of food for $69.00. What would be cheaper for you to feed? What if I were to tell you that you'd spend $3.71 per pound of fish grown vs. $2.37 per pound of fish grown by using the "cheaper" food? Which one would actually be cheaper?

One thing I have learned over the years is that the smaller the fish, the more it is affected by rapid changes when moving or transporting or stocking. A few years ago I picked up 5.000 or 6.000 3.25" WE. From hatchery to transport tanks the water was the same temperature and pH. At the first drop off point the water they went into was the same pH and temp (I am assuming - we didn't test the pH but we DID test water temp). The 2nd drop off point the pH was the same but the water temp was 1.3°F different. That temp difference killed about 1,300 of them before I realized what was happening. I quickly matched the water temp and had no more issues.

Regarding the minnows for your pond. Get a digital scale and weigh the minnows that you transfer. You need to know the weight to accurately know if more need to be added. Going by minnow numbers means that you have to know their length. That is unrealistic for recreational pond owners. Even the fish hatcheries don't measure the length of their fish. They have fish graders, which is a box with stainless dowel rods spaced "x" apart. That "X" distance corresponds to a certain species and certain length of that species. Then they take 100, 200, 300 fish that they actually count and weigh them. Then they record that number for that lot of fish and when you go to buy 2,000 fish they calculate what that number would weigh and they weigh what you are getting. That works for every fish except smaller quantities of large fish like TGC or adult LMB. Growing trophy fish in a smaller pond is VERY difficult on natural forage, just because of the carrying capacity of the pond. The predator population would have to be relatively low, so catch rates would be low as well.

Regarding the HSB comment. If you heard that comment on a Facebook forum, be VERY aware of who you listen to. If you want to take someone's advice, ask them if they are a pond management company or if they are just an individual who owns a pond. If they say they don't own a pond "but this is what I read" just say thanks and I wouldn't bank on any of their information. If they are a pond owner, ask them about their pond, and fish in it, size and what they are feeding. Sometimes you can read between the lines. I bet they don't even know how HSB are "made" and grown on a commercial scale. I only know of one producer of HSB on a large commercial scale. Google "Keo Fish Farm, Keo AR" and read about them.

Regarding the dye, I tell my customers that it has it's place but if you are wanting any normal type of fish growth in their pond that if they use dye they also should be supplementally feeding a good commercial fish food because using dye cuts out a lot of the bottom building blocks in the food chain pyramid in a pond.