snip

I dunno about crawdads.
===
===Dunno, as in "dunno anything about them", or "dunno if it's a smart idea"?
===I would think they stand as good, or better, chance of survival than
===smallmouth bass and catfish. Be warned, it is likely _not_ legal to stock
===native fish in your pond without appropriate licenses. Particularly
===something like a smallmouth bass, which is native to the US but quite
===possibly not native to your area. Here in Nova Scotia, they're an invasive
===species.


Yep stating so called facts without knowing where this fellow lives
and the laws and regs that pertain, but it is likely illegal is a
great answer.

TAKE a clue Derek, he is not in any of the north country areas, he is
in california, and its quite legal, so why would he be concerned about
Canada and its regulations......You do not know the answers without
being a smart ass to the fella but just have to post to stay on your
soap box, but that certaianly does not help him now does it?

Crawdads will soon become food for the normal run of native fishes, so
they will not last long in a pond with any bass..........bass do well
as do bream, and its perfectly legal in most all counties of
california, some have rules that state otherwise, but you can buy em
all day long at hatcheries for stocking in private ponds....

Native fish make a lot of mess, but no more than koi do, not quite a
pretty to see since you usually view it from the top, but anonetheless
game type species are nice if you can get a good
sideview.........especially some of the bream species. Catfish will
keep the water stirred up, constantly. You will have to place bream
first, give them time to grow and then stock bass fingerlings, with
catfish fingerlings being last...........I say stock but from thew
sounds of your pond your only looking for a few native species, so you
may be all right to get fish of approx size at the same time......But
eventually that catfish or bass is gonna eat the bream. Bass do not do
as well with pelleted feed as catfish and bream do, but they will eat
it, but don;t look at any spectacular growth rates unless you go with
live food for the bass............

Native fish do not tear up planats as bad as koi and gold fish
do........actually they treat the plants fine, as most are feeders of
live food and not vegetarians. To a native type fish as bass and bream
plants are cover, not food like a koi views it.

Call your local county extension agent, or the fisheries division of
your local university and they have a wealth of info that they will
send you for free in regards to what your wanting to do........your
certainly not the first., and its pretty common to do, and they have
papers already printed up with all the data, and the correct data and
info for your county / state, not biased oipinnions like you get in
this forum, from folks just having the dire need to see their name in
print!


REMEMBER: "This is worth repeating for benefit of al newbies!
Jo Ann asked Dr. Sooooooooooooooooolow to remind people that while she has retired from selling GF (and sold
the business to Ken Fischer http://dandyorandas.com/) she has NOT retired from
helping people with sick GF and koi FOR FREE. 251-649-4790 phoning is best for
diagnosis. but, can try email put "help sick fish" in subject. Get your fish at Dandy Orandas
Dandy Orandas Dandy Orandas........you guys got that DANDY ORANDAS