Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Is this enough???

I somehow forgot about this thread. Sorry!

As far as gambusia/mosquitofish, there are two species. The eastern and the western species. All of myexperience is with the eastern species. They are very common in the tidal rivers where I live in northern VA. I first collected them from these locations. I transferred them to ponds from 0.1 to 4 acres in size. Some of these ponds were very LMB heavy, yet they thrived. We don't get terrible winters in general but do get ice on our ponds for over a month and can get snowfalls in excess of two feet. I am aware of a very bass heavy 3 acre pond in central PA where they are far from abundant but do hang on. In that area winters are much more severe, which may be why they are not nearly as abundant. I also don't know the origin of those mosquitofish. Having stocked mosquitofish with many other species, I believe they are the most predation tolerant of any small species. However, they are also extremely pugnacious for their size and will pick at fish 4x their size. If you can't get any other species to take hold in your pond, they may be the only option. However, depending on your location I'd first try to establish banded killfish or a species of topminnow estblished first which are less pugnacious and fill a similar niche. I used to breed the black blotched(malanistic) strain of mosquitofish that I collected in FL. Unlike their northern VA relatives, when left outside to over winter in VA, they died off. Obviously, obtaining genetics from the most northern native range is best. The eastern mosquitofish is native as far north as southern NJ. Although nearly identical in appearance, perhaps the eastern and western species are different in other attributes.

LCS are not native to the Atlantic drainages north of extreme southeastern VA. This means they are not found in NJ as a native and unless stocked which is highly unlikely they aren't found in NJ at all. They are found in extreme western NY and PA and isolated areas of OH where they are very rare and may be protected as a threatened species. There they are generally found in very clear, heavily vegetated waters of large natural lakes. Whereas, LCS in the south seem to be more abundant and survive in a far larger range of habitats. Perhaps me sourcing my LCS from a Texas source is why my LCS have so far done quite well. Starting with 30 2" fish in a 0.34 acre pond, I got a small spawn when they reached 3 years of age and this year with the original stockers now 4, had a giant spawn. I will continue to assess them as they age and precators are added. Keep in mind their is a closely related creek chubsucker which is far more wide spread being found in many Atlantic drainages into New Englandvand through much of the Midwest. They are sometimes found in impoundments but may need running water to spawn. This would preclude them as a typical pond forage candidate. However, they may not require running water to spawn, more research is needed.

Non conventional forage species is still a new field and a niche market as adding them to most ponds(particularly those with abundant LMB) is a waste of time and effort. It is an area Bill Cody and I have been experimenting and learning for some time. As others begin using non conventional forage species, we'll learn more about how, when and why they should be utilized. Right now sourcing them is the biggest challenge.

The benefit to Fathead minnows is that they are very quick to reproduce and very slow and easy to eat. Young bass do not have to expunge a lot of energy to eat them. They will be wiped out within a year and cause no ill effects to the pond. They are only there to give your initial stockers a jump start, future generations of bass can start off on the bluntnose and grass shrimp but they will also be food for the larger predators. You want your stockers to grow quickly but future generations should not have things so easy in order to control their numbers.

Plus fatheads are real cheap. For $50 you can get enough in the pond to turn into millions for your first stockers of bass.

The benefit to bluntnose, killifish, shiners etc. is that they are more predator resistant than the fathead minnows. They are faster and the bass has to use more energy to catch them. They will be there for the larger bass to eat and for the later generations of bass to eat but they aren't a bonanza of protein like the fatheads are for the initial stockers.