new pond and fish

Thinking of stocking new pond soon. Only 3 months old but many frogs, If stocked and no plant life just what will the fish eat? Do not want fish that will stir up mud as catfish will. Opinions please.

Bass, they eat frogs. You will have plenty of plant growth before you know it in the pond.
Loren

When ever you talk about a pond it helps to know the size and what you expect from the pond. If you plan to feed the fish. There are slight differences in management depending on your goals.

For us in the south the first step to stocking a pond is getting a water sample and testing it. Around here lime needs to be added.
Once you have that right you want to fertilize it with liquid phosphorus. This will create a phytoplankton bloom and start the food chain.
Then in the spring add fathead minnows and allow them to get established. This is a easy to capture bait fish.
In the fall add bluegill and redear and let them grow over the winter and spawn the next spring.
Then if the pond is big enough to support bass you can stock them in the spring.

Your state's extension service should have some suggestions for what works in your area and your pond size.

First thing we put in is fat head minnows for the other fish to eat.

I've had good luck with the INDNR fish biologists...very knowledgeable and willing to help. I'm sure they can point you in the right direction. Also the fish hatchery had a lot of good information. My pond is established but with tiny green sunfish, trying to find someone to kill it off so we can start over. Good Luck

Do not put minnows in you will have a mess. As for catfish they are one of the best for keeping pond in shape, along with bluegills and
bass. The bass eat the bluegills and that cats keep the pond clean. In Iowa the DNR will help with stocking and you do not have to let anyone fish pond if you do not want.

Joe

Bill,
I think some people make the mistake of thinking they will mow the grass around their ponds. Grass is a good source of fertilizer, so the cut grass quickly rots and rain washes the fertilizer into the pond, then green algae grows.

You need to have water plants growing in your pond to use the fertilizer. Bird poop also adds to the fertilizer too.

So check into water plants. Get ahead of algae or your next question is how to get rid of algae.

I used to have two small plastic water garden tubs and a plastic roof material for a stream between the two tubs. After 20 years, my family is gone, lost electricity for about 2 weeks because of high winds and trees, I lost my prize coy that were almost 2 feet long. Stop buy and I'll give you some water irises. I used them in my pond along with a pump that ran 24/7 to circulate the water between ponds and added air to water. I put the water irises in plastic tubs and filled with lava rocks. The roots used the fertilizer left behind by the birds that took a bath in the stream, pooped on landing, and used about 50 gallons of water a day while splashing in stream.

Water irises will grow with roots in water year around. They love wet roots. Have a yellow flower too that make seeds.

You may want to add cat tails. Plant life is very important in a healthy pond. May want to add a pump and a water fall to add oxygen.

Go to the Mid Atlantic Stocking website they have a some very good information on what fish to stock in what situation and what type fish go together.Personally I would never put a
perch or brim in a pond.

I used hybrid sunfish. Reported to be 90-95% sterile so they don't overrun the pond. On my 0.2 acre pond I started with 250 fathead minnows in the fall. In the spring I added 250 hybrid sunfish, 40 bass and 10 catfish. Periodically I add additional fathead minnows. After 2 years the fish are growing nicely and the pond looks great.

This year I caught one of the catfish - was about 8-9 in long. We used a net to catch some fish - bass are about 4-5in long. Sunfish size is all over the map from small to around 5 in long.

John