esshup has wise advice from experience.
1. purchase RES 3"+ long so you can reasonably tell if they are truly RES. A pair of other sunfish commonly MIXED in by mistake by some fish farms will raise havoc in a standard YP pond. The smaller the fish are the easier it is to get other unrecognizable sunfish mixed into an order. It is better to not have any RES than to have a pair of other sunfish species in a YP based pond. Other panfish are eating foods needed by the perch and detracting from your YP harvest. .
2. The advice is very good about the SMB in a YP based pond. Remove all larger SMB because these larger SMB will eat larger 4"-6" YP and suppress recruitment of YP which can also be a benefit. It all depends. It is all about predator control. Very similar to raising chickens; control of numbers is important. Having something eating all the chickens is not so good.
3. ""You don't realize just how many fish get eaten per year in the pond unless you experience it first hand." The numbers in normal conditions can be a whole lot more than expected. Then these over abundant fish run out of natural foods. If the pond becomes "weedy", this protects too many small fish and promotes over population of fish that are not useful for table use. It pays to closely monitor the density of each species.
4. Agree. "The only other thing I would do is wait to get the underwater plants established before adding the crayfish." Especially true if not using SMB as a predator. A strong population of adult YP can eat quite a few relatively small crayfish. Rusty and Northern crayfish are not IMO very good food for YP. SMB yes, YP not so much.
5. Organic farming of not pellet feeding can work for pond fish. However the numbers have to be significantly lower for all fish get plenty to eat so they not only live but grow which takes more food than just living.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/30/23 02:42 PM.
