Hybrid Bluegill?

Comment

Comment by Zach Pierce on April 24, 2012 at 12:33pm

I wonder if this is a gillcracker?  I have not seen any more like this in my pond.

Comment by Zach Pierce on April 1, 2011 at 10:00pm

This sure looks different from most of the other Hybrid Bluegill I see on here.

 

Could it be a F2 or F3

Comment by Walt Foreman on March 17, 2011 at 9:02pm

Yes, if you were to hire a professional pond consultant that is something they should check, though they might check the pH instead.  You can also buy a test kit from a pool supply place and test it yourself.  But any good pond consultant would test that automatically.

Comment by Zach Pierce on March 17, 2011 at 5:27am

I plan to have all my ponds water tested this year.  Do they check alkalinity with everything else or is theat something I would have to ask for?

Comment by Walt Foreman on March 16, 2011 at 8:09am

Unless the pond is largely covered by FA, which I'm guessing it isn't at this time of year, the bloom will kill it off.  Have you ever tested your alkalinity?  That determines how easy or difficult it will be to get a bloom.  If it's over 20 ppm you shouldn't have any problem; less than that and you may need to lime first, 1-2 tons of ag lime per acre (ag lime is cheap, typically a few dollars a ton, and usually you can find someone who will deliver and apply it for you - try your local co-op).

 

There are lots of different brands of water-soluble fertilizer on the market.  A lot of co-ops sell Perfect Pond Plus, so you might check with your co-op to see if they have it; if not they can probably get it for you.  Any water-soluble fertilizer will work though. Typically the water-soluble mixtures will have somewhere around 10% nitrogen, somewhere around 50% phosphorus, and either 0% or sometimes 4% potash.

Comment by Zach Pierce on March 16, 2011 at 5:14am

Now what if I already have FA, will the bloom be able to take?

 

If so will it kill the FA?

 

What type, brand of fertilizer do I need to get?

 

Are ther many options?

Comment by Walt Foreman on March 15, 2011 at 6:20pm

Rick is right on the grass carp - give them to someone else.  They don't eat FA in the first place, and beyond that, they will eat pellet food like it's going out of style, and when they get big they'll keep the bluegill away from it with their large bodies, habitually flopping their massive tails, so that the bluegill get very little of the food.

Comment by Walt Foreman on March 15, 2011 at 6:15pm

As far as fertilizing goes, the easiest method by far is to use a water-soluble powder fertilizer - not granular, which is cheaper per pound but requires ten or more times as much per acre, and also does not dissolve in water and will sink to the bottom unless poured into the wake of an outboard motor.  But the water-soluble you can broadcast from the bank - just throw it into 2-3 feet of water, usually four pounds per acre though it may take more the first application or two to get a bloom.  Also, you may need to fertilize twice two or so weeks apart the first time, in order to get a good bloom, but once you get the bloom going you should only have to fertilize once a month, sometimes less than that, and you can stop fertilizing in October.

 

You can certainly add tilapia if you're primarily interested in the bass.  If on the other hand you're managing the pond for big bluegill, they're the worst thing you can do; not only do they take bass pressure off the bluegill so that the bluegill will overpopulate, but they directly compete with bluegill for food, pellets as well as invertebrates and plankton in the pond.  Your bluegill growth will be cut in half, or more, by the tilapia.  And if you get a plankton bloom established you won't have any problems with FA unless you have a lot of water shallower than 2'.

Comment by Zach Pierce on March 15, 2011 at 2:00pm

We will have a nice warm up this week so I hope to get out and see if any more of these will bite.  Maybe I can find the 8-10 inchers somewhere.

Comment by Zach Pierce on March 10, 2011 at 2:45pm

Rick,

 

Did any of your hybrids look like this one.  We both got our fish from the same place so just wondering why they look so different.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page