It is best to stock forage fish before predator fish. I also stock a lot less predators and let them spawn. Started my SMB in a 1 acre pond with 10 fish stocked in consecutive years. If you are not in a hurry, this can work very well. I also recommend holding off on grass carp until you have unwanted weed growth. Folks often overstock these and find they cannot grow any plants. I considered these in my SMB pond when curly leaf pondweed got out of hand, but papershell crayfish seemed to almost eliminate this issue.