B3nzy,
Fingerling bass will not do well in that pond. They will stunt also because they will be competing with the BG and BH that are their size and bigger. It is a waste of your money and they will probably be BH snacks. Now the larger LMB that you have transplanted, they stand a chance to use existing BG and BH as food. You want LMB that are 5 times the mean length of the stunted fish. If they are, they will grow faster than BG & BH can and they will be effective predators. If the LMB are less than 4 times the length of the existing BG & BH, the LMB are going the be hungry all the time and progress will be slow. Even with sufficient LMB of the correct sizes, it could take 3 years or longer to correct the stunted panfish. It depends on what your goal is (large bass or large BG & BH) what course you should take in terms of the number of LMB. Healthy, average RW LMB of the appropriate size that have never been fed pelleted feed will make the best predators.
Feed is a terrible waste of your money at this point in the game ... also it is very risky. They are low relative weight and to small to harvest. If you fed 75 RW stunted fish until they were 30% longer they would increase in weight by 3 times. The problem with that is that the fish are already at carrying capacity. Its asking for a kill. Given enough predation (including your own seining, fishing, trapping), the situation can be corrected. After they can grow to reasonable lengths and weights you will get more bang for your buck from the feed.
Last edited by jpsdad; 05/18/20 08:14 PM.
