Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Too much forage?

I am wondering if I am either feeding the wrong food or too much food.

Pond is 1/8th an acre, 5ft deep and in Kentucky (water temp is over 70).

The pond had/has Green Sunfish and many small frogs. 3 months ago I stocked 150 BlueGill 50 Shell Crackers and 10 Large Mouth Bass.

Almost every morning I go out and spread 1/2-1lb purina game fish food.

Issue I see is that this food is not being consumed (see some on bottom of pond). The frog population seems to be growing, flying insects are plentiful and I now have two resident Snapping Turtles.

During feedings I see little, if any top action and during fishing I have not seen the average fish size increase. I have seen small Bluegill so I assume they are breeding.

Wondering if it is possible for the pond to be too healthy or if most of the large fish died and the turtles ate them.

Might just be a little impatient...any feedback would be appreciated.

Can you list the pellet size of your game fish food?

It might be too large for easy consumption by the BG.

Give some more data and I suspect some of our feeding experts can give you some good advice.

Jst4Fun,

Yes, IMHO that is too much at this stage (4-8 lbs/acre-day). You know this because they are not fully consuming the feed. Sounds like you already had some fish in the pond (GSF) so it isn't clear how much you are over feeding. Can you share what lengths the BG, RES, and LMB were when stocked? Day and month of the stocking? How large are they now? How large are the GSF on average?

The BG & RES were 1-5" and the LMB were 3-6". Pellet size was smallest I could get (turtles like it though).

Stocking was in late June (2-3 months).

Green Sunfish were/are averaging 2-3", no real idea on the others all I have seen/caught are GSF and BG in the range previously recorded and stocked.

I was hoping that the supplemental feeding would either grow the GSH (fun to catch on ultra-light) and/or ensure there was enough feed for the newly stocked fish.

It would have been beneficial to have stocked the LMB larger than that (because of the abundant GSF forage). How have they grown over the 2 1/3 months? I haven't worked up a climate for any Kentucky locations but just assuming it is equivalent to Kansas City (they have very nearly the same average annual temperature) ... a six inch LMB would have grown from 6" to 10.2" ... while a 3" LMB would have grown to ~9". If they consumed all they needed to achieve the average potential ... they should be 9" - 10.2" in length right now with some variation outside that range. Can you confirm this growth has been observed of your LMB?

With regard to the 1" BG sizes you stocked. They may have had a considerable amount of mortality due to their small size and the GSF population. But the larger of the BG should have had very good survival. 5" BG should be 7" now. 3" BG should be a wee bit larger than 6" now. Here again assuming that they consumed as much as their potential would have required. Is this the growth you observed over the period?

Hopefully you are aerating. I think I would want aeration with a feed input approaching 8 lbs/acre-day. Beyond 10 lbs/acre-day you may be risking a kill. I did run a simulation for the 150 BG assuming they were 3" at stocking. If they were growing at potential and deriving all nutrition from feed ... the feed rate they would currently be on would be .76 lbs/acre-day. So the feed rate isn't excessive considering the potential weight of fish and the goal of maximum growth (growth at potential). That said, considering the feed is not being fully consumed may be a sign of other important factors. The most likely of which may be ... excessive temperature ... low DO. So right now, a time when water temps are elevated and sunlight is diminishing rapidly every day ... this is a more risky time to overfeed. The problem would be compounded in very shallow old ponds (if that happens to be the case).

Considering this ... I would work on ways to reduce the waste of feed on the bottom. Some thoughts ... If aerated, try to spread the feeding across 2 or 3. If the pond is very shallow and somewhat already old and fertile, consider reducing the fed amount and killing some GSF. If small enough to be swallowed by your LMB, injure by fin clipping and release. The larger GSF can be consumed by you or you can chop them in pieces that can be swallowed by the LMB. LMB will consume chunks laying on bottom (caught many that way) ... also another member Pat Williamson has caught them on jugs using cut bait too. I wouldn't do that because you will not want to be removing LMB but yes ... the LMB will consume cut bait if you recycle them. Removing the GSF will have the effect of leaving more food for the BG. This will make you less dependent on feed. Harvest or enforced mortality is going to be important to your management. There will be a balance between the food it takes to support the standing weight and mortality. You may have already reached this balance.

First - what part of KY ? Elevation changes a lot in the state. A 2000' increase in elevation can change growth dynamics (water temps). Growth rates are local not statewide.

Are the GSF eating pellets?

Reduce the amount of feeding to the amount they will eat in 10 mins for now.

Were the fish feed trained? If not then just put out a little feed each day , same location and same time until you see surface feeding.

I am a little east of Lexington.

The GSF have been seen eating the pellets but mostly I see BG.

The BG came from a fish farm so they should be feed trained but I am not positive.

I have reduced the amount of feed, however was mostly curious as to why the GSF were so small if there was ample feed for the population.

It takes time for growth especially if there are lots of mouths to feed. A BG or GSF have small stomachs so they can't eat a lot at one time.

Im not much help on your feed consumption issues but I am impressed with your water temp just above 70 in a 5' deep pond.

Here in central MO, which I wouldn't think is too much different from your area, my water temps have been up to the mid 80s in my 25 to 30' deep pond.

GSF have much slower rates of growth than BG (~1/2). They grow slower when they are eating what it takes to grow at their potential. Same with RES. GSF grow much slower than them to.

Sounds like I just need to be patient.

As for my water temp. The pond has steep banks 3/4 of the way around and is constantly filled with cool water from rain and run-off. In Lexington we get rain almost every other day and the evenings always cool to below 70 even in the middle of summer. Both help the water temp.