A lot there to digest. Will start with this one
"So along this theme, the idea is a ladder where LMB are stocked at a rate of 3 (1 year old females/acre) every 4 years. "
LMB can reproduce with SMB. I would not count on non-mixing.
It occurred to me, particularly with the absence of LMB boys, that the LMB girls have no choice but to spawn with SMB males when the opportunities afford themselves while the LMB females are ripe. So I wouldn't count on no-mixing for sure. On the other hand, producing dependable crops of meanmouths seems too good to be true also. So there should probably be some expectation between these two extremes.
To be successful, they need to be trying to mate with one other. The gametes have a very limited time to make their connection once they are expelled from the parental fish. Spermatozoa particularly lose their vitality quickly and after a couple minutes they are unlikely to fertilize an egg. Dependable success in the wild would require the male SMB to remain on the nest and engage in the act of spawning with the female LMB. Accidental fertilization (where the male isn't intending to fertilize the eggs) is much less likely. I know both accidental and deliberate fertilization happens, but it seems the probability of success depends largely on the likelihood of the cooperative engagement and the percentage of fertilized eggs that are viable (viability is relatively low in this combination).
Maybe this one of those "it depends" things where if you wanted meanmouth production you wouldn't get any but if didn't want any you'd be neck deep in them.
