Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Green Sunfish/Warmouth pond

Careful, comrades. Big Brother is watching you.

Evidently you don't have to be able to spell "green sunfish" in order to be a member of the society.

Eurasia is a pond weed, right?

The extra space was for dramatic effect, ya that's the ticket.

Now that I found out I'm in an area with more WM than GSF can anyone tell me if I can apply the same approach with the Warmouth as the goal species?

hi i live in south central illinois and i just dug out my pond completely, it is about 80' wide and 170' long, 14' deep in center and angles right to bank, there is no shallow area's. i was wondering what type of fish would be best to put in. i'm thinking red ear or hybrid blue gill, largemouth bass and some channel cat,but alot of people are telling me to leave catfish out. i can feed these fish,that isn't a problem. what should i do and when should i put fish in and how many. someone give me a plan and a little help.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Moved to it's own thread here.

Welcome, jh!.

For your own safety, perhaps one of the moderators could move your question to it's own thread....you've innocently and inadvertantly stumbled into a long running thread driven by crazed fans of green sunfish, and I'm not sure you'll get any objective advice here. Also, we won't be able to vouch for your personal safety; you might accidently disparage the greenies, and those guys from California would come after you with tire irons and the tax code.

While your question is being moved, I'll ask you what your fishery goals are, because someone who actually knows what they're talking about is going to do that anyway, so I'll save them the trouble. Also, look under the "What types of fish to choose" heading while you're getting relocated...lots of good info there.

Originally posted by GW:

No, that was last week. This week, Eurasia is a chlorophyl enhanced oxygenator developed to provide nutrition, habitat, and aesthetic supplementation by our friend and benefactor, BB

We've talked about the GSF being easy to catch and therefore less likely to become hook-shy, but I wonder. Could it be that their aggressive feeding behavior is related to their typical situation in the food chain? It seems that they are always in heavy competition for food with LMB and other Lepomis (including themselves).

Doesn't it seem logical that larger (older), well fed GSF will also tend to become hook shy?

I have found that every fish in my ponds can become hook shy.

Yes.

Yes we could.

But then of course we would have to kill you afterwards.


I found this on a website...

RANGE AND HABITAT: Warmouth sunfish are native to Ohio, but their distribution is limited to glaciated streams and lakes in the northeast part of the state. They are abundant in one of the few natural lakes in Ohio, Nettle Lake in Williams County, and in the Scioto River drainage in south-central Ohio. Warmouth prefer weedy lakes, sluggish streams, oxbows, marshes and ponds. They are a secretive fish seeking cover in rocky banks, stumps, or weed masses to avoid direct sunlight.

I wonder if that means that you would need to perhaps plant some non invasive lily or provide some other form of shading?

LIFE HISTORY: Warmouth are not colonial spawners like other sunfish species. However, males do fan out a nest, usually near a rock, stump, clump of vegetation, or other large object. The male guards the nest until the fry disperse. During this time the male will chase intruders off with gill covers spread wide and mouth open, to make himself appear larger. Adults eat primarily crayfish, aquatic sowbugs, aquatic insect larvae, and small fish. Warmouth can take four years to reach 6 inches in length.

Once again seems like some vegetation might be in order. I could ship you some Elodea if you would like.....

Four years to reach 6 inches??? I can't imagine that this would be true if you were feeding them.

Still seems like an interesting project even if GSF aren't involved.

http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/warmouth.html

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3373

Fecundity of Bluegill and Warmouth from a South Carolina Blackwater Lake
Frank M. Panek and Clarence R. Cofield

Carolina Power and Light Company, Energy and Environmental Center, New Hill, North Carolina 27562

Abstract.—The relations of fecundity to total length (mm) were developed for the bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) and warmouth (L. gulosus) from a large southeastern blackwater lake. Fecundity estimates for bluegills ranged from 571 to 27,027 eggs per female and were related to total length by the expression log10 F = -2.337 + 2.839 log10 TL (mm) with r² = 0.59 (where F = fecundity and TL = total length). Bluegill fecundity was lower and diameters of mature eggs were smaller than those reported in the literature. Fecundity estimates for warmouths ranged from 798 to 34,257 eggs per female and could be expressed by the relation log10 F = -4.678 + 3.889 log10 TL (mm) with r² = 0.67. Fecundity of warmouths as determined from this relation is similar to that for fish in other habitats.