I put my FHM into the pond in late summer. I think it was September. I threw in several pallets for them to lay eggs under. I'm not sure they spawned that summer, but the next spring there were clouds of them. I still have really large schools of them. Everything is working on them, so the numbers are down, but they are hanging in there. The water looked like mud when I put them in. They did fine. I don't think they were all that expensive either. I followed the instructions from the guy I bought them from. Four bags that I had sitting in the water to come to temp for quite a while, then slowly mixed in the ugly pond water. I didn't see a single floater.

Looked back through pics. First big rain on the brand new, just completed, pond was Sept 10 2014. My guess is, I stocked the FHM shortly after that.

Last edited by SetterGuy; 07/29/17 09:55 AM.
9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
Otter attack in 2023