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#531738 03/09/21 01:11 PM
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Hi,

Last week I had a 40x60x6 stock tank dug before a big rain that filled it.
I'm at full pool.
Now the question is how much and of what can it hold?
The goal is to keep bluegill in it so my kids can have something to catch.
I was thinking adding about 1,000 minnows and a couple hundred fingerling bluegill.

Thoughts?

Last edited by trophybg; 03/10/21 06:07 AM.
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If you want strictly bluegill but would like some with size, I'd recommend feeding them as they get larger. Great fun to watch, my grandkids love it. Or one healthy female bass will keep BG from overpopulating and also provide sport with off chance of a real lunker in a few years.

Be sure to check on the exact provenance of the minnows. It's easy to get baby rough fish mixed in from careless or unscrupulous sources. Fathead minnows are generally best starter.

Last edited by anthropic; 03/09/21 01:29 PM.

7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Originally Posted by anthropic
If you want strictly bluegill but would like some with size, I'd recommend feeding them as they get larger. Great fun to watch, my grandkids love it. Or one healthy female bass will keep BG from overpopulating and also provide sport with off chance of a real lunker in a few years.

Be sure to check on the exact provenance of the minnows. It's easy to get baby rough fish mixed in from careless or unscrupulous sources. Fathead minnows are generally best starter.


Thanks, I'm between Overton and Tyler Fish Farm so either can be a source for me.
Thanks for the advice on the single bass.
TFF recommended 100 catfish but that seemed like overkill for a 40x60 tank


I planned on feeding them to ensure proper size
Even if it is dumping more FHM in.

Last edited by trophybg; 03/09/21 01:38 PM.
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Good planning. Channel cats usually do well in smaller waters, but you'll need to harvest as they grow or you could run into water quality issues. For sure you'd need to keep a close eye on the situation. I know nothing about TFF, but have dealt with Overtons and been pleased.

Last edited by anthropic; 03/09/21 03:14 PM.

7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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100 CC seems like a lot to me too! Unless you plan on harvesting most of them at the 1 pound stage. That's a lot of fillets and could still be a dangerous with regards to an oxygen crash. That's 100 pounds of fish in less than a 1/16th acre pond. 20 sounds better to me and just feed them pellets and grow some big cats taking a few every year.

Anthropic gets my vote for BG pond with the one LMB as population control. Maybe consider HBG (hybrid blue gill).

With regards to the FHM's. Stock them early, like now, and give the pond most of the summer before adding the game fish. This will make many, many more so long as you give them some pallets (or the like) for laying their eggs on. After that, adding FHM's will just be expensive food. Use pellets instead.

I had a carp hitch hike in with my FHM's. So, you cannot be too careful when inspecting the to-be-stocked fish for unwanted species.


Fish on!,
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Crowd control in a small body of water is easy with a cast net or seine.

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Small ponds can become over populated in a hurry leading to O2 depletion. I believe I would go with hybrid bluegills and be my own predator.


It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Hmmmm
Maybe back down to 100 CNBG
Keep the same 1k FHM
Next year add two "Camelot Bell" LMB and maybe five channel cats

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What about vegetation, should I introduce any plants or grasses in a pond this tiny?

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First off, welcome.

Secondly, slow down. Your stock tank is smaller than my brood ponds and there is no way I would put that many fish in one of my brood ponds. YOU are asking for trouble.

I have found that introducing a few selective fish into a pond that small is the best I can do. They will populate the pond very quickly. Remember, there is no food in that pond right now, so you have to add food as well. FHM are great, but they need food and habitat to reproduce. If you are just adding them as a snack, so be it. I have found introducing them with the right food sources and habitat works well.

I have found ONE and ONLY one predator is needed. DO NOT add two LMB or you will be starting over at some point. If you add ONE BC that would also be find, but it is an either/or.

If you toss in the FHMs now and add some habitat and food, you can then later add the BG of choice and after they are established, ONE and ONLY one Predator.

2 Cents complete.


Brian

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I would +1 highflyer's ideas of selected few fish. I also like Dave's idea of a panfish with limited reproductive potential like hybrids with single predator. I would add a few more thoughts. Since we generally talk about fish carrying capacity in terms of weight/per acre, it is useful to prorate to your particular pond. There is no reason, if you intend to feed, that you couldn't carry 400 lbs/acre (you could carry more but this would widely be accepted as fertile water). So you have about 5.5% of an acre and 22 lbs is a good number to work with. If the average weight of those fish was 2/3 a pound then you could have around 36 of them. So you might begin with 24 BG males in the 6" to 7" range and then the following year harvest 9 of them and begin stocking 12 males annually thereafter. Such a plan would not need a predator. Were it me, after the second year, I think I would harvest any BG > 10" in order to allow the stocked recruits to grow well. While BG can live for 5 years or longer, there is usually annual mortality that prevents most from attaining that age. After 5 years, even after having stocked 72 BG, you would probably only be carrying 40 or maybe a few more of them. If you don't harvest >10" BG it probably wont make a big difference in the numbers, there will probably not be much over 50 in the pond.

Your stated your goal was "... to keep bluegill in it so my kids can have something to catch." There are other possibilities that might produce more fish annually but where the experience would be similar. For example TP are a possibility depending on the timing of release to supplement a limited BG fishery. Catfish as others have mentioned. But as long as you were to be careful not to stock female BG you could have some trophy BG as your handle suggests you would like to have.


It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers


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Originally Posted by highflyer
First off, welcome.

Secondly, slow down. Your stock tank is smaller than my brood ponds and there is no way I would put that any fish in one of my brood ponds. YOU are asking for trouble.

I have found that introducing a few selective fish into a pond that small is the best I can do. They will populate the pond very quickly. Remember, there is no food in that pond right now, so you have to add food as well. FHM are great, but they need food and habitat to reproduce. If you are just adding them as a snack, so be it. I have found introducing them with the right food sources and habitat works well.

I have found ONE and ONLY one predator is needed. DO NOT add two LMB or you will be starting over at some point. If you add ONE BC that would also be find, but it is an either/or.

If you toss in the FHMs now and add some habitat and food, you can then later add the BG of choice and after they are established, ONE and ONLY one Predator.

2 Cents complete.


For habitat I tossed some lengths of 12-15" corrugated plastic culvert I recycled from the side of the road. The county is replacing all culverts with concrete.

For FHM food, I know they eat phytoplankton but what can I buy right now to give them a jump start?
Dried mealworms?
Blood meal?
Cottonseed meal?

I'll add the FHM this week and wait until about memorial day to add CNBG

You think 10 weeks will be good enough head start?
Or can I shorten the timeframe?

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I buy Optimal fish food and they have several sizes of pellets. The #1 would work well, but I don't see a smaller bag than 40 pounds on their website...that would be way too much for your size pond for the first year. Maybe contact them and ask for a smaller amount. They seem very good to work with and would likely sell you a 10 pound bag.

https://optimalfishfood.com/contact/

Originally Posted by Quarter Acre
...With regards to the FHM's. Stock them early, like now, and give the pond most of the summer before adding the game fish. This will make many, many more so long as you give them some pallets (or the like) for laying their eggs on. After that, adding FHM's will just be expensive food. Use pellets instead....

I gave my pond a full year with just the FHM's and am glad I did. 10 weeks is better than less is all I can firmly say.


Fish on!,
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Originally Posted by Quarter Acre
I buy Optimal fish food and they have several sizes of pellets. The #1 would work well, but I don't see a smaller bag than 40 pounds on their website...that would be way too much for your size pond for the first year. Maybe contact them and ask for a smaller amount. They seem very good to work with and would likely sell you a 10 pound bag.

https://optimalfishfood.com/contact/

I have a koi pond sized water hole that I kept goldfish in.
I'd toss them a hand full of bread crumbs every other day and they were fine until the freeze.

Would this work for FHM?

I tub of bread crumbs is a dollar at Walmart

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I went ahead and got the CNBG too
He convinced me

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I would go ahead and get a bag of Optimal #4. Both the CNBG and FHM will eat it.


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Is sealing the bed of your pickup and adding water an option?

I see everything else you need for a good pond. Fish, a substrate, good steep sides, wading boots for the kids, and a fishing pole! laugh

Good luck on your project.

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I should of added that is what Dustin at Optimal recommended to me when I just had FHM and told me to start my BG off with it when I stocked them. I think it is the smallest they make that floats. It is a lot of fun to watch them feed on floating pellets.


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I get you are excited about your new pond, but there is more to learn and patients must be the first thing you learn.

So how many CNBG did you get? And how many FHM did you get?

Also, where did you get the fish?

Finally, have you tested your water chemistry?


Brian

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A dry fly catches no fish
Try not to be THAT 10%
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I also tossed a half bucket of cottonseed meal in the pond
See how that does as far as food

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Originally Posted by highflyer
I get you are excited about your new pond, but there is more to learn and patients must be the first thing you learn.

So how many CNBG did you get? And how many FHM did you get?

Also, where did you get the fish?

Finally, have you tested your water chemistry?

Pond was dug on February 24
It rained Feb 25 - 28
Been full pool since March 1st
I can get the water tested by haven't yet
I got 1k FHM
300 CNBG
But some of those CNBG didn't survive as I had to wait and do a project with my daughter's class that took an hour.

I got the fish from Tyler Fish Farm in Ben Wheeler

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Besides a feeder I'm wondering about aeration
Should I????

Last edited by trophybg; 03/11/21 02:32 PM.
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Well I don't know if this is going to sit well, but no, do not aerate. You have a very small stock tank. Don't buy a feeder, don't aerate. They will only add to your problems.

You will understand sooner or later. Sadly some lessons just have to be learned the hard way.

Best of luck.

Oh, and when you have to restock, call Todd at Overton's. He is a better teacher than I am.

Again, best of luck, let us know how it goes.


Brian

The one thing is the one thing
A dry fly catches no fish
Try not to be THAT 10%
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