Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Stocking a new pond with RES, YP and SMB

Crayfish will develop high numbers in a pond with just FHM, other minnow species or shiners. Sport fish even pan fish will keep the crayfish numbers lower due to the fish even young panfish eating the new baby crayfish. Lot of crayfish in a pond can keep the FA and weeds to low amounts although the pond may be murky due to lots of crayfish activity in the sediments. Best habitat for crayfish is large riprap along most all the shoreline down to 3-5ft deep. Crayfish live among the rocks and will eat the attached algae that grows on the rocks / concrete. Some species of crayfish are more aggressive such as the rusty crayfish and tend to suppress the numbers of papershells depending on amount of habitat.

I don't think very many fish farms have figured out that you can grow lots of beneficial pond dwelling crayfish in small shallow ponds that will not support good fish populations. Wetland or summer kill ponds are good crayfish areas as long as the pond does not go completely dry in the summer. You can poly culture crayfish and minnows to get a double cash crop. There is a pretty good bait market for papershell crayfish wherever SMB angling is good. Crayfish are easy to ship with low mortality. As many fish farms that there are in the Midwest one would think more would grow crayfish.