Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Pond Rehab in Colorado - fish stocking

Hey guys -

This is a follow-up to my original thread here:
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=194280#Post194280

Once we get our water quality issues figured out, we'd like to stock our 0.6 acre, shallow pond with some fish to balance out the ecosystem. I believe the 2 large fish we lost this summer were grass carp, and we have a handful of slender fish around 5-6" still left. They look like the shape/size of small trout, but I'd be very surprised if trout could live in the water given it's current state.

My thoughts are to first stock with 6-8 triploid grass carp to help mitigate the duckweed and algae blooms. Also, it seems like we could benefit from fathead minnows to help with the muck and perhaps even mosquitoes?

Beyond that, I'm totally open to suggestions, if we should even consider stocking other fish. Some people go fishing in our pond, but we'll likely post signs prohibiting it while we work through the restoration process. For what it's worth, the local fishery stocks trout, catfish, crappie, bluegill, wipers, walleye LMB, grass carp, fathead minnows.

Also, moving along another track, how would koi fare along with grass carp and fathead minnows? Anyone have luck managing a koi population in a pond of this size?

Thanks for any help you can offer!

I too doubt that those fish you see remaining are trout... Would be nice to know what they are so you know what actions to take though.

Grass carp are not effective at eating duckweed or filamentous algae. Tilapia are though, so you may want to see if they are legal to stock in Colorado and consider stocking them instead. You can contract Rainman on here, he sells them and can ship to you...

Fathead minnows will effectively control mosquito larvae but will do nothing towards control of the "muck". Aeration is about the only option to control muck, or gradual raking of the bottom.

0.6 acres is not overly large so I would keep the fishery simple. How deep is shallow? Anything less than about 6' and you will run a high risk of winter kill, particularly if your pond is at a higher elevation.

Koi are nothing more than fancy colored common carp... One must be careful in stocking them into a pond. With predators, when stocked in small numbers, say 3 or 4 in your pond's case, they shouldn't be much of an issue as their offspring should be heavily preyed on by the predators in the pond. However, without predation they can quickly over reproduce and muddy your water, just like normal common carp will. Koi in a large earthen pond play only one role. A visual entertainment, particularly if you plan to feed the feed in the pond. They will become pets and you can watch them. If you don't plan to feed, I would suggest you leave them out.

Keeping a balance in a 0.6 acre pond is tricky, for this I would recommend a put and take fishery utilizing hybrids that won't reproduce or species that cannot reproduce in ponds.

My favorite fish combination for smaller ponds in the HBG/HSB/CC pond, this is especially true for a pond where they owner will be feeding the fish.

Good points on the options. I haven't found a definitive source yet, but I suspect tilapia cannot be stocked here in Colorado. Regarding grass carp and fathead minnows, I think we'll likely stock these to replace the ones that died this year, and hope they help the other grasses/bugs that are growing through the pond. I figured koi could be a fun addition, but we likely won't be feeding them, and would prefer not to deal with the muddy water.

I'll see if we can find hybrid bluegill/crappie locally, but does anyone have favored recommendations for other options that could ship here?

If you have 5"-6" streamlined fish moving quickly like trout and living in weedy, warmer waters, my guess would be that they're juvenile LMB. LMB, when seen swimming by a person above water, usually have a distinct dark horizontal line along their body. If you want your pond to be a HBG/HSB/Channel Cat pond, you're going to need to determine whether these really are LMB and if so, remove them. Juvenile LMB mean adult LMB, and adult LMB mean that stocking any HSB/CC under about 8" is just feeding the LMB.

Crappie usually are not recommended for small ponds because they tend to outcompete other fish and overpopulate wildly.