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

My one acre pond is now a year old. It was stocked with CC, HBG, RB, and fathead minnows one year ago. I had a huge flood and was sure I lost some fish so I restocked half of the fish a few months later, last summer. I just added 25 F1 bass yesterday, along with fatheads, and a few more HBG and CC. My question is what are my bass going to eat? THe reason I ask is I have read the controversy between BG and HBG. I played it safe and went hyrid.

Am I correct that the HBG and CC are "take and replace" fish? What about the bass? ARe the bass going to eat all my fatheads? I have an automatic feeder that I run in the summer. I just need a little help with future management. Thanks

Your bass will eat you out of FHM in fairly short order, typically 1-2 years.

HBG produce very few offspring wrt regular BG, so they will not provide much forage for the bass.

Both the CC and HBG will effectively be "put and take" fish in the face of predation on their eggs/fry/fingerlings by the LMB and the HBG themselves. The main food source for the LMB could end up being their own offspring once they are big enough to spawn. This is not a very good food source for them either, since they basically spawn just once a year.

The CC and HBG should readily take pelleted fish food, but the LMB will not unless they were feed trained ahead of time (they very rarely learn on their own).

This leaves your LMB lacking a sufficient food source in the long run. If you wish to utilize them primarily for controlling the HBG and (possible) CC offspring, that is one thing and would be no problem. If, however, you wish to grow larger bass, it will be a problem. The easiest solution would be to stock (larger sized) regular BG, which would not be difficult if you decide that's what you want to do.

My biggest concern was placing regular BG and overpopulation. Will they over populate or with the bass keep them in check? Are they as bad as crappie?

Craig, I'm a bluegill fan. Assuming a proper mix of predator/prey (with you lending a hand as both), you can achieve a pretty good balance.

I don't think anything presents the problem potential of crappie in a small pond.