100,000 gallon pond stocking question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I don't think you will be able to see too much of whatever you decide on due to the size of the pond,unless you are an avid snorkeler lol.How about growing out some sturgeon and putting them in.
 
The more visible a fish is, the greater chances they will get eaten. Your pond is very shallow, so you will have a lot of predation, no matter what you put in there - I would stick with natives that can populate the pond based on natural predation.
Again - why are there no fish in there ? Sounds like somebody made this not too long ago, with a similar idea, and fish just have not populated it yet. If it were a natural pond, there definitely would be natives in it.
 
I'm not sure how long it has been there. I bought the property about 8 years ago and it looked old then. I suppose it is possible that it was stocked at some point before I came along. I guess all I can do is give it a try and see what happens. The sturgeon idea sound cool but considering how shallow the pond is I'm not sure that would be the best idea. Maybe I'll grow out a channel cat and drop it in to see how it goes? Or try and get my hands on some trout or bass?
 
If there are no fish in there at the moment...doesn't that just make this a [size=+1]BIG[/size] wet spot/puddle...and not a pond??;)
 
Well, by definition it is a pond. If it is of any use for fish or not is what's up for debate. I guess I'll throw some fish in there and see what happens. I will update the thread with any further developments. Thank you to all who responded.
 
well, if there are two feet of silt/mud on the bottom, you can completely forget sturgeon. I'd stock with some common natives (bass, catfish etc.) first, then think about what else to look for.
 
There IS a reason that there are no fish in there. Obviously. Otherwise, there would be natives in there already.

I would throw in a few sunfish, and see what happens to them first.
 
I think the question should be how much work and money are you willing to devote to it? If I owned that property I'd be damming up the area where the water flows in/ draining the pond and dredging/digging it out quite a bit to get rid of the silt and also make it deeper. I'd try for something sloping to 15 or 20 feet deep in the center. You could also expand the pond at that time if you wanted to. once you've cleaned it out and deepened it you have a lot more stocking options. I'd add some large driftwood, rocks, etc for structure and hide spots, toss in a bunch of crayfish, minnows, a few species of sunfish and bass and some catfish.
 
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