I started a self-sustaining population of LCS in a 1 acre pond with a dozen 3" fish. It all depends on if those fish are health and have good cover. It also depends on what else is in the pond with those fish that might eat them. My SMB in the same pond were started with a total of 20 fish with 10 stocked in each of 2 consecutive years. Lots of SMB of various sizes are now present. If a pair of fish pull off a spawn and all the fry are not eaten, it is likely they will establish unless to little genetic diversity results in unhealthy fish.
