It's really easy to grow more fish than a pond can carry. Carrying capacity is determined by the most limiting factors. In unfertilized waters, this is often food. If food is the limiting factor, then water quality will generally be good and conducive to long lived fish.
Thanks for the response jpsdad. However, it was a little too nuanced for me, so I don't think I grasp your meaning.
"It's really easy to grow more fish than a pond can carry."Does this refer to the people that heavily fertilize their ponds to get big productivity at the base of the food chain and ALSO use feeders with supplement food for the predators?
If so, then I can see how dissolved oxygen would easily become your most critical "limiting factor".
"Carrying capacity is determined by the most limiting factors. In unfertilized waters, this is often food. If food is the limiting factor, then water quality will generally be good and conducive to long lived fish." I think this portion of your response refers to more "natural" ponds that ARE NOT intensively managed?
My ponds will be more of the natural style. I may lightly fertilize, or have a single feeder at the end of the dock dispensing a small amount of feed.
Therefore, I believe your statement that "food will be the limiting factor" will apply to my ponds. However, I can't decipher your meaning as to which would be better - a bigger pond, or more smaller ponds?
I am trying to start my pond management during the design phase. Smaller ponds have more shallow water and therefore more vegetation. Is this the most productive area of the pond for food generation? (For everything in the base of the food chain beyond the plankton stage?)
In that case, more shallow water and therefore more plants aids in the "food supply" of the pond. (As food for some of the organisms in the food chain, and as cover or habitat for many of the other organisms.)
Yet a plant (or FA) die off causing an oxygen crash seems to be the main reason for a massive fish kill. Further, in the pond building forums, they frequently talk about optimum sloping of the pond to reduce shallow water. I am so confused!
This brings me back to your statement,
"A good mix of structure, plants, community players, and edge habitat increases food production naturally and sometimes (due to the influence of some community members) with an improvement of water quality parameters."In your experience, would you say that the good mix is easier to achieve with more shoreline per surface acre of pond, or less shoreline/acre?
P.S. Thanks again to everyone for all of the information and advice. Everybody should feel free to chime in with their two cents on the original questions, OR any of the questions I pose to the responders! I love reading the PB Forum when I am not swamped with work. (Unfortunately, I am usually swamped!)
