Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat 100 new croppie 6 floaters

I reacently bought 100 6-7" black croppie. Over the last 5 days I have found 6 dead. Earlyer in the spring I stocked Lots of fat heads about 60 small walleys 3" and about 100 1.5" HBG. I have only seen the FH (doing well) and the 6 floaters(not so good). We have had lots of rain and cool weather. I have notice lots of insects. My pond shouldn't have any chemicals of any kind in it. No feild run off dies ect... It is fairly new, built last fall and currently is about 1/3 of an acer and 11ft at its deepest. Should I be concerned with the floaters or this caused by the stress of being transported? Thanks for any responces.

I would say 6 morts out of 100 new stockers (any kind) is pretty typical, and 6"-7" fish are going to show up easier than small fingerlings when that happens. If it's just transport/stocking stress I would expect the deaths to taper off pretty quickly.

I tend to agree with Theo about the morts. I wouldn't worry yet.

Is this pond going to get a lot bigger? That seems like a lot of predators for a 1/3 acre pond. I don't think the fatheads alone will keep them satiated for long.

I found four more floaters yesterday. I have noticed some fuzz growing on the dorsel fin of most of the dead ones. Not sure if this is a bad sign or not. The minnows seem to be full of life and I think they may have spawned. Some are guarding certain areas running off other minnows. The pond is at about full pool. Lots of rain.

MN -- black crappies are notorious for being hard to handle and haul. They often have delayed mortality. You are still pre-spawn, and 6-7 inch fish may very well be able to spawn this year. Could you tell if any females had eggs when you stocked them (plump enough to see/feel the eggs)?

Boy, Dave is sure right about that one! Don't even look at a crappie funny--you might kill it.

I didn't notice any eggs or one fish being any more or less plump than the next. I hope its just the species and not poor pond conditions. Thanks for the info.