Lastly does anyone have good suggestions on IDing RES so that no mutt sunfish make it in the pond if I do go smaller than 4-6" do to availabilty?
Sorting RES from mutt sunfish at 2"-3" is very very risky for novice pond owners. My money bet is then on the side of getting the mutt sunfish. I even do not stock the 2"-3" size of RES if purity is important. . If you get the RES from Fender then IMO even the 4"-6" RES could contain mutt sunfish. They used to grow most of their own RES in wild ponds where hybrids are common. Sorting and 100% no mistakes is extremely difficult when seining and sorting thousands of fish. It is easy to drop a wiggling flopping fish into the wrong tank. Most fish farm help are not nearly as demanding as a very particular pond owner who wants all pure specie fish, mainly because the fish farm help do not need to deal the the consequences of mistakenly adding a wrong fish. Their thinking is "So what there are a couple mutt fish in the mix"..
If you get Fender's 4"-6" or larger RES in Apr or May you will get a good RES spawn this year. Fender does often have 5"-7" RES and even larger ones. An option would be instead of 50-100 2"-3" RES, spend the same $$ for several larger RES 5"-7" that will spawn for you this spring. With no predators lots of RES fry will survive. This will be a much safer chance of getting pure RES. Non-pure sunfish can really disrupt a small pond fishery long term in several ways. Once in and spawning you don't get them all out.
Background. Most all fish farms buy all their RES from out of state farms usually AR. So most all RES are sold shortly after arrival as 2"-3". Fender farms around 200+ac of water and is big enough to grow most of their own RES so - 1. Fender usually will have large sizes of RES some up to 8"-10". 2. These Fender RES are acclimated to OH climate and survive cold water winters well. So several breeder sized RES (5"-7") will result in the same or a better RES population for your new pond compared to 50-100 small 2"-3" risky sized RES..
I looked at Fenders prices. 50 2"-4"RES = $50. $60 will buy 30 4"-6" or 15 6"-8" RES. If it were my brand new pond I would buy the 15 6"-8". or a $60 mix of 4"-6" and 6"-8". If you want larger RES you should preorder them from Fender and they will call when they have them available.
