Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Swimming Pond

Hello,

We've had our 1/3 acre pond for about 2 years now. It was stocked with fatheads and structure, they seem to have taken over well.

I was looking into stocking the following:
200 Redear Sunfish
50 Yellow Perch
12 Hybrid Striped Bass

Feed: Bug killer light and pellet feed

My dealer also has a new type of Sunfish called a Specklebelly, they are said to take easily to food. I was thinking about maybe 25 of these?

Fishing: We'd like to take a few meals a year from the pond. Unsure how much I need to keep the Perch from overpopulating.

I'd love to hear suggestions or opinions.

If you are referring to Jonesfish, "Specklebelly" is what I believe they are calling their BGxRES hybrid (based on their webpage and the conversation I had with the young man from Jones who treats one of my ponds).

I love my BGxRES (developed naturally from male BG and slutty RES females as opposed to purchased). They do indeed take very well to pelleted fish food. My current record is 13.25" long and a little over 2 1/2 pounds.

They have one negative that may be of importance to your pond - they will breed in higher numbers than RES (although not as high as straight BG). I suspect you will have insufficient predation to keep their numbers in check with just 12 HSB. I have breeding populations of YP and SMB in my 1/2 acre pond with RES and BGxRES, and remove 400-500 BGxRES annually to (try and) keep their numbers to what I consider optimum. (I feed fairly heavily, and about 1/3 of these are eating sized.)

As with all hybrids, subsequent generations are not a pure BGxRES, but random mixes of these two sets of genes. This has caused variation in appearances but no noticeable negatives or problems in my pond (my first BGxRES appeared in 2008, so I have had several generations of grandchildren and backcrosses with RES).

We do not swim in this pond, so I cannot comment on whether BGxRES will "nip" at swimmers as BG, but not RES, are sometimes complained about doing. FWIW my family has never had a problem with BG "nipping" at us while swimming in our other pond. (Perhaps we taste bad.)

If you are open to stocking additional predators and some angling removal of BGxRES, I think you'd be okay.

Thanks for the feedback! Greatly appreciate it.

Yes it is Jonesfish I was looking at.

Do my numbers look right? Should I increase or decrease any amounts?

You don't want any sort of BG/HBG. Those things are a curse in a swimming pond. They reproduce like mad and
ruthlessly molest swimmers with their incessant nipping. I have some accidental BG in my pond. I keep a trap soaking
24x7 from March til November to control their numbers.

My pond sounds very similar to yours. 1/3 acre, stocked forage with FHM, GSH, GAM, and northern crayfish.
RES, YP, SMB, and HSB are in there for fun and for lunch. And there are those infernal BG.
Stocking numbers in mine are basically flipped compared to yours with respect to the YP and RES. I installed 50 RES,
then another 30, and ~270 YP, 200 being fingerlings and the other 70 8"-12" sized. Sounds a little high on its face,
but I lost at least half of the fingerlings due to a 14 hour deluge of rainfall the day they were put in so I followed up
with a second stocking. Seriously consider adding SMB as crowd control for the YP. 12 HSB probably won't be able
to keep their numbers properly in check.

I'm probably a bit overstocked, but the pond is in my front yard and I keep a close eye on what's happening. I'm running
diffused aeration from April til November. Hand feeding Optimal. I've not fished it much yet. Couple times with the grand
kids and some occasional sampling to satisfy my curiosity. The fish (but not the BG) get one more year of sanctuary,
then I will start with the catch/keep/eat.

The YP will catch on to pellets pretty quickly. RES, not so much. You have to work at it to teach those guys.
This thread will give you an idea of what it takes to get RES onto pellets:
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=508098&page=1

Thank you! Great advice!

I think I may raise my YP perch numbers (100?) and add some SMB. How many additional SMB do you think would keep the population in check? 12?

I don't think I'll look into the Specklebellies anymore. My wife is scared to get bit. I always swam in HBG ponds and never had a problem as a kid.

I stocked 24 SMB and 20 HSB in my pond. Most people would probably say that was too many.