Help with a pond ?

[fox1]

How long after a new pond is dug do you wait to stock it, do you wait for vegetation to grow ? Is there a natural PH level that you are wanting to see in the water ? The man I have doing the work said that this area will require Benonite to seal it so not even sure if vegetation will grow through Benonite .

Thanks

[cosmiccowboy]

You don't have to have aquatic plants to have a healthy fish population. The food chain starts at the microscopic level with phytoplankton and zooplankton. You can jump start with an aquatic fertilizer.

[cosmiccowboy]

This is a good read to get you started:

http://urbanrancher.tamu.edu/retired...c/farmpond.pdf

[fox1]

This is a good read to get you started:

http://urbanrancher.tamu.edu/retired...c/farmpond.pdf

That was a good read i appreciate it. Im planning on about a acre and a half so looks like i wont have much problem keeping enough catfish for the table.

[Boomerang]

How long after a new pond is dug do you wait to stock it, do you wait for vegetation to grow ? Is there a natural PH level that you are wanting to see in the water ? The man I have doing the work said that this area will require Benonite to seal it so not even sure if vegetation will grow through Benonite .

Thanks

Believe me, some of the invasive plants will grow in anything. Plants are nice for cover but you can still have a productive pond without them. I would stock it up now.

[Boomer57]

Start with minnows and coppernose perch, feed them floating fish food daily. Give them 3 yrs to grow, both will spawn every 30 days with warm water.
THIS is your food chain. At 3 yrs the perch will be bigger than your hand but their mouths are to small to eat the minnows. Perch are now too big for bass and cats to eat, these are your breeders to keep reproduction going.
After 3 years bring in 3" fingerlings of bass and cats. The cats will join in on the floating food and grow quickly. Once the bass get big enough to stick your thumb in their mouth they will grow really fast. One yr old bass will be about 12", 2 yr old bass will be about 18".
You may need to restock minnows each year, they really get hit heavily.

[fox1]

Thanks Boomer, i think im sticking with catfish though, ive always prefered cats over eating bass but i like the perch idea.

[rtp]

I like those big coppernose perch. The big ones put up an awesome fight on ultralight tackle. They eat really good as well.

[Hoggslayer]

Pond boss is a good magazine. It has a lot of good articles about managing your farm ponds.

[Bill M]

pondboss.com

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

What is a pond? Isn't that like, in a park with a jogging trail and some benches around it?

Juuuuuust kidding.

[fox1]

What is a pond? Isn't that like, in a park with a jogging trail and some benches around it?

Juuuuuust kidding.

There will be no jogging path, i only run when im in danger of something trying to eat me.

[Keg]

How long after a new pond is dug do you wait to stock it, do you wait for vegetation to grow ? Is there a natural PH level that you are wanting to see in the water ? The man I have doing the work said that this area will require Benonite to seal it so not even sure if vegetation will grow through Benonite .

Thanks

Let me know how the Benonite works...I have a tank we are gonna put some in....

[Boomerang]

Let me know how the Benonite works...I have a tank we are gonna put some in....

It works. Will work in sand even. Just takes more for sand vs a loam.

[bboswell]

Following. My tank is almost 1/2 full and I'm itchin to stock it up!