new 3/4 acre pond complete in september 2020, it is full. built a dock , enclosed it with coated 1x1" square fencing, with rocks under the dock and cinder blocks all around the fencing. built another minnow protection habitat at other end of pond , same thing, coated fencing, rocks inside, cinder block around outside in 3' of water. built 5 pvc tubing trees in 5 gallon buckets along the bottom of pond, and a bunch of pvc piping minnow breeding stations throughout the bottom of pond.

just stocked 2000 FHM last week, will be getting crayfish and snails in june. i've read about daphnia and would like to know if / how i should stock them ? i do have 2 stakes driven into the ground in about 2' of water, and read about putting haybales over those stakes, spreading aquapellets ? around the stakes and then pouring a yeast solution over the haybales in the water.

do you all recommend putting daphnia in my pond, if so how much (quart / gallon) and does the plan i described above sound right ?

next year this time 4/2022, i plan on putting in hybrid striped bass, yellow perch and walleye as my game fish.

right now just trying to get the forage poplulation established. pond is located in western new york, cold winters, lots of snow.

feedback welcomed. thank you.

Won't hurt to add some but they will be brought in by birds or may be there already if pools existed where the pond bottom now is. Adding them might accelerate their establishment.

In my ponds and outdoor tank settings, the cyst stage of waterfleas is nearly ubiquitous in in soil. I think they are moved around at least somewhat by wind. I can not fill a pond, even when freshly dug, without a water flea bloom occurring in relatively short order, even when birds do appear to be frequenting the pond.

When my pond was filling I installed daphnia that I collected from the marsh at a nearby conservation area.
Mother Nature will bring them to you eventually, but it doesn't hurt to help her out with certain things.

Getting the forage base established before stocking fish will result in fast growth after stocking.

Depending on the species of daphnia water flea that you buy and or stock,,,, the species of plankton filtering fish that you stock, and the amount of weed cover available will determine which species of zooplankton will survive and thrive in the pond. I do not recommend buying Daphnia magna who are too easy for fish to eliminate. Then the algae based productivity will determine how many and who are present during the four seasons to contribute to the plankton / pond productivity. Most zooplankton have seasonal density pulses. Type of habitat and species of fish mostly govern the zooplankton community composition.