Restocking And Want To Do A Better Job This Time - 07/15/14 08:49 PM
Hey guys -
I'm sure this has been asked a hundred times before, but I'm restocking my pond and I could use a little expert advice. I messed up a couple of years ago with stocking my little 1/3 acre pond and it took a complete drain to correct it. So I want to make sure I do it right this time.
I'm in the Piedmont section of western NC, just outside of the mountains. My pond is well-fed and I had it dug so that my family could swim in it often and fish in it occasionally. About a year and a half ago, I put in 50 CC and about 100 HBG. Fed them everyday and had the aerator going all summer. But by the end of the first year the water was so muddy nobody would swim in it. I thought it was turbid so I poured in gypsum, but it didn't help. Finally dawned on me that I had overstocked the CC. Like I said, I took desperate steps to correct the situation.
Now it's refilled and clean and I want to restock it with something that we can all live with. I've been reading this forum and thinking I should stay away from BG because we swim in the pond, but I'd like something that kids and adults can both fish. I also don't want to go back to throwing food pellets in everyday. I'm thinking about a few SMB (instead of LMB) and RES (instead of BG). Also, a couple of grass carp might help with weeds. Yellow perch sound pretty good, but I don't think I can easily get them where I live.
What do you guys think? Thanks for any advice you can give.
I'm sure this has been asked a hundred times before, but I'm restocking my pond and I could use a little expert advice. I messed up a couple of years ago with stocking my little 1/3 acre pond and it took a complete drain to correct it. So I want to make sure I do it right this time.
I'm in the Piedmont section of western NC, just outside of the mountains. My pond is well-fed and I had it dug so that my family could swim in it often and fish in it occasionally. About a year and a half ago, I put in 50 CC and about 100 HBG. Fed them everyday and had the aerator going all summer. But by the end of the first year the water was so muddy nobody would swim in it. I thought it was turbid so I poured in gypsum, but it didn't help. Finally dawned on me that I had overstocked the CC. Like I said, I took desperate steps to correct the situation.
Now it's refilled and clean and I want to restock it with something that we can all live with. I've been reading this forum and thinking I should stay away from BG because we swim in the pond, but I'd like something that kids and adults can both fish. I also don't want to go back to throwing food pellets in everyday. I'm thinking about a few SMB (instead of LMB) and RES (instead of BG). Also, a couple of grass carp might help with weeds. Yellow perch sound pretty good, but I don't think I can easily get them where I live.
What do you guys think? Thanks for any advice you can give.