Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose New 2 acre pond stocking plan

I agree with DDavidson and Lusk, snapping turtles mostly eat sick, weak dying and dead fish. I have had two large ones in my pond for 25 years. I think smaller one is male and big one is female. I have seen them layered together. I see not young snappers in the pond. Mine must be territorial. Fish steal pellets from the nose of the turtles and turtles don't try and eat the stealer fish. The turtles do eat the dead animals such as dead birds, dead muskrats and dead fish in the pond and the dead food does not have to be freshly dead. Apparently 2 day old dead fish are just as savory.

I trapped snapping turtles for years; snappers will eat absolutely everything they can catch or find. I used to put them in a big horse trough to clean them out for a week before butchering, they would puke up fresh baby ducks/fresh fish/muskrat feet/duck feet/ other smaller turtles. I myself don't like or want them in a pond at all and remove them with prejudice.
And in a pond that people swim in I would never want any.

Those baby ducks had it coming.

Those baby ducks F.A.F.O.

Went fishing today to see how the BG and RE are doing! Also, FHM are in the millions, its crazy... I have yet to catch or see a Golden Shiner, but I did see one on the bank that a bird caught awhile back. They also seem to be getting big and are healthy.

Anyway, here a re few pictures of fish I caught today. I noticed a lot of red marks. Please take a look and let me know what you think?
The BG and RE are FAT, like really obese.. hahaha. I feed 3x a day..

Thank you!

The red spots look like fish lice.

An update on the pond progress:

The FHM and GSH are plentiful! Schools and schools of FHM and GSH at various sizes.

The BG and RE are getting very big and fat, the ones I catch are all healthy!

Everything is now eating pellets. So, feeding 3x a day has added to the growth.

Last week I had 120 3-4" LMB and 80 3-4" HSB delivered. I have only lost 2 or 3 LMB but have lost at least 21 HSB so far. Everyday I see 4 to 6 HSB washed up on the shore, no signs of injury.

So, that leaves me with around 60 HSB so far. I assume this would still be a good stocking amount? I have an opportunity to get more 3-4" HSB within the next 2 days if I want them. Thoughts?

Did you take enough time to acclimate the HSB before letting them loose in the pond?

I would wait on getting more HSB until you see how much more mortality you have with them, and if possible, the cause of the excessive morts.

Glad to hear your forage fish are doing well!

Sorry to hear about your HSB mortalities. If you have observed 21 morts, your actual number is almost certainly a little higher than that.

I would sure like to know the possible causes of the observed deaths before trying again. Poor transport conditions, failure to acclimate to pond temperature correctly, etc.

We have lots of experts on the forum for fish handling and transport. Perhaps start a new thread and list as much information about the stocking process and conditions in your pond as possible?

I was typing while Sunil was typing.

Clearly, one of us is much faster!

The HSB were not acclimated, Just put in the pond as with the LMB. I was trusting the fishery on that one, bad decision on my part.

What is a good stocking number for HSB in my pond knowing the current stock rate of everything else.

I have read they are a schooling fish and do better with a large school. I have read all kinds of recommended stocking rates for HSB, just curious to actual experience.

If you end up with 20-30 per acre, I think that's a decent number to allow growth of the HSB, and not have too many of them. They are feed hogs and will take up biomass in the pond. And while the HSB don't reproduce, your LMB will most likely start spawning in the Summer of 2025.

I'd wait and see on the HSB.

HSB do school sometimes, but not all the time.

HSB are very touchy about stocking procedure. When I pick them up from the hatchery they knock them out with tranquilizer before they move them to my transport tanks.

I would think your stocking rate of the HSB is still kind of high after the mortality, 20 / acre should be sufficient IMO. They grow really fast and eat lots of pellets.
Since they do not reproduce in ponds I would wait a few years before stocking more so you have a couple different size classes.

Years ago, my fish supplier would 'knock-out' the HSB with clove oil before stocking them into the pond. The 'sleeping' HSB would lay on the bottom until they woke up and slowly swam away.

These days, when I go and get HSB to bring to my pond, I don't use any clove oil. I just take a lot of time to ensure that the water temps are equal, and they they are gradually introduced to the pond water by slowly adding pond water to the transport water until you'd have mostly pond water.

I also use some kosher salt to help them along.

Thanks for all the feedback! I will not add anymore HSB and wait to see my final count. I can always add more in the spring if so desired. I will plan on a 20/30 per acre HSB stocking rate.

As you know now HSB are TRICKY to transport and stock. Another very important factor is the method the fish farm held them and how LONG they held them in their tanks before one buys them. Often these fish are not even fed to keep manure to a minimum and water quality good. If the buyer could see how many dead fish are removed from the Farm's Retailer holding tanks each morning the buyer would probably not be a buyer. Been there seen / experienced that.

HSB are often held and transported in pretty strong salt water to fend off bacterial infection. Changing them from strong salt to complete freshwater has to be an immediate shock. Generally the smaller the HSB are, the more sensitive they are to transport, holding and restocking. IMO 6"-8" or 8"-10 are the best sizes to buy as they are more tolerant of stressors. If one stocks 3"-5" HSB in an existing pond with LMB,,, the LMB eat all weak, struggling, dying fish to be never seen again. IMO you will be lucky to have 20 of the 80 survive to Spring. Fall stocked fish are stressed fish and need a lengthy period of all summer to build a good body fat reserve condition to survive the long harsh winter and lack of food availability. Fall is not a good time to stock some species of fish. Lots of small fish die in winter due to lack of adequate body fat. Nature's way of eliminating the weakest ones.

It is remarkable the improvement of weight and condition of your BG stocked only 7 months ago growing from this in late March:




To this in 3 months:



And then on to this in a little over 4 months (8-2-24):



Just remarkable how fish will turn around and grow when conditions for growth are favorable.

I don't like to see open sites for infections to take hold on the fish. For the pond experts, is this anything he could/should do in response?


bstone, you mentioned feeding 2 times daily in June and have been feeding 3 times daily recently. Do you know how many bags you fed this year?

[/quote]bstone, you mentioned feeding 2 times daily in June and have been feeding 3 times daily recently. Do you know how many bags you fed this year?[/quote]

The BG and RES are huge and fat, bigger then my hand. Wish I had a updated picture.
The GSH are also huge and fat as they are eating the pellet food also.
And no signs of infections at all. I think they just needed to get acclimated and a healthy diet.

Of the pallet of Optimal I got (50 bags to a pallet) I probably used 25-30 bags this summer. I went heavy feeding to promote grow and health.
I plan on getting another pallet at the end of next summer.

As of now I have lost about 30 of the 80 I bought, I have not seen anymore dead in a day or so, so hopefully that is it with the initial loss. I added 3-4" HSB as this was the size of the LMB I was getting at the same time. Of the 120 LMB I have only seen 2 dead.
I didn't realize how sensitive the HSB are, thankfully they are cheap. My plan is to keep 40 - 60 stocked. So, if I loose anymore then that I will stock them in the spring at 6-8" as that would be about the size of the LMB at the time. I have a different fishery that stocks these, so will use them next if needed.
I appreciate the information. Thank you

Thank you for replying. I am very glad to see your BG respond like this to your feeding program. All is good!

Need a fish ID please. Walking around the frozen pond I found a bunch of these in the ice. Any idea what fish these are? Thxs
My guess is bluegill. Just crazy how many are in the ice.

Looks like Bluegill to me.

Were they all close to the same size??. Did you stock any fish this fall?

May be picture , but eye looks a little big ? BG , late season hatch , shortage of bloom to feed causing stress , then cold hit causing fatal stress ? Just a thought . I've found small fish frozen in ice , but never more than 2 at a time , in a barely 2 Acre pond.