Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feeder guppies

For a fish aquarium, you can buy feeder guppies for pennies. How would adding such fish to a pond do as far as helping the forage base? Would it give the baby bass something to eat and help them grow faster? Any negatives?

I have no idea, but a couple of concerns.
Would they over-multiply and cause problems from that? If so, it would be almost impossible to remove them. Would they eat your bass' eggs?

Hey Guys, a couple of points:

Chance of guppies even surviving long enough to breed is pretty slim, they are live-bearers and only drop in the ballpark of 2-30 young. The chance of the adults or the young surviving in a pond with any level of predation is pretty slim. They are also slow swimmers, and could potentially carry disease if purchased from a pet store. Also as you probably know they have limitations in the temperature range they can survive in.

Another note is that they would only be large enough to be a meal for small bass and bluegill... any larger fish they wouldn't be much of a meal for.

As far as cost is concerned, you would be better off buying bulk quantities of fatheads or shiners. They have a better chance of survival and reproduction.

Good luck.

Feeder guppies weigh about 1500 per pound. That means they cost around $15 per pound. Bass convert their food 10 to 1, so that means you can raise bass on guppies for $150 per pound.
Not the best way.
Use bluegill. They reproduce often enough, and in big enough numbers to support bass populations.
Bluegill are the backbone of the bass foodchain.
Guppies are kin to gambusia, or mosquitofish. They live in shallow water, near pond's edge. Not likely bass food, anyway.
Good question. Thanks for asking.