Hello all, long time since I've posted here.
I last had a koi pond over a decade ago. We moved and during the moving process, our filters failed on us and we lost all of our fish, and I never rebuilt a pond since then.
Fast forward a decade, and I now live on a 40 acre farm, and just dug out a pond. By farm pond standards, it's pretty small. About 30x70 feet irregularly shaped, 12 feet at its deepest. Average depth of about six feet. It'll be about 75,000 to 100,000 gallons once it fills. It is spring fed, with overflow. I live in Pennsylvania, USDA zone 6A.
I just finished digging it out a couple of weeks ago, and it's slowly filling. Where it is now:
I'm looking for advice on stocking the pond come spring time. I want it stocked with native fish and I want it to be self-sufficient (in other words, I don't plan to feed them). I'm thinking large mouth bass and bluegills. Maybe some crayfish for cleaning up the detritus on the bottom and some sterilized grass carp.
What do you guys think?
I last had a koi pond over a decade ago. We moved and during the moving process, our filters failed on us and we lost all of our fish, and I never rebuilt a pond since then.
Fast forward a decade, and I now live on a 40 acre farm, and just dug out a pond. By farm pond standards, it's pretty small. About 30x70 feet irregularly shaped, 12 feet at its deepest. Average depth of about six feet. It'll be about 75,000 to 100,000 gallons once it fills. It is spring fed, with overflow. I live in Pennsylvania, USDA zone 6A.
I just finished digging it out a couple of weeks ago, and it's slowly filling. Where it is now:
I'm looking for advice on stocking the pond come spring time. I want it stocked with native fish and I want it to be self-sufficient (in other words, I don't plan to feed them). I'm thinking large mouth bass and bluegills. Maybe some crayfish for cleaning up the detritus on the bottom and some sterilized grass carp.
What do you guys think?
