Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose How soon to stock?

My small (about 1/3 acre) pond is finally starting to get some water in it 1 1/2 years after complete rebuild Am I getting too anxious to put in the fat heads yet, or should I wait till it is full and stock altogether. I am also planning on hybrid sunfish and channel cats. Don't know if the fish guy has a deleivery charge.

Thanks in advance

I was just as anxious to get my fish in. You don't mention how deep your pond is, but if it's 3 feet, put the fatheads in with some cover. The first time I did this, I went to 1 1/2 feet and they died, the second time I stocked at 3', they multiplied well and when rain took me to 6' I had thousands. For the price, get them in now if you can, let them breed...then you can stock the "real" fish sooner. p.s. Throw in some baby bgill too...just pray for rain !

Thanks Eastland. I probbaly have 3 foot (out of 15) full. I diverted a spring over with about 400' of platic pipe and am getting about 5gpm. Did a lot of "soaking" in first, but is stabilized and slowly rising.

I am fairly convinced I don't have a leaker. We just flat haven't gotten the rain here.

i stocked my 4 1/2 acre pond with about 3 feet of water in it,i put flathead's and bream.it worked out very well.

If you use hybrids, count on heavy feeding. I don't know your overall plan, but fatheads don't get large enough to feed catfish.

I found my notes from the fish supplier and they don't make sense now.

Blues? are they the hybrid bluegills?

Price was 2-3"-40 cents
4-5 - 75
5" - $1

I assume the 8-12" channel were a $1

It also said 5# of fatheads.

I can't find his number so the source doen't matter. I can feed the fish. The hydrids would be for the little kids to have fun and the channels are for my dinner table (and fun too)!

The only cover I have right now is some tires tied down. I can put some brush in pretty easy still.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

I doubt that "blues" are hybrids. Unless you worry about the bgills overspawning and stunting, hybrids offer no actual catchable size advantage. Only bluegills offer a renewable source of protien for the catfish.

Of course, if you plan to feed daily, catfish and hybrids can be an acceptable mix. Even then, I would have to add at least some bluegills and shellcrackers. Wouldn't hurt to occasionally get a pound of fatheads.

However, I think the best bet is about 2 pounds of fatheads, 300 bluegills, about 50 shellcrackers and 50 or so 6 to 8 inch channel cats. Add a couple of kids to keep the bluegills whipped down and you should have a good mix. A feeder puts a lot of size on the cats in a hurry.

Add some brush for small fish cover.

Generally, the fish guys don't deliver. You pick up your fish in oxygenated plastic bags and add them to the water yourself. Bill Cody recently had an excellent post on the right way to add fish to a new pond.