Survival, Age-0 Abundance, and Growth of Black Crappie and Hybrid Crappie in 0.1-ha Earthen Ponds

Crappie Pomoxis spp. are a popular sportfish in the United States; many private pond owners would like to stock crappie, but crappie display inconsistent reproduction, which can lead to overpopulation and result in a stunted population. Crappie with limited reproduction would be an attractive management option for minimizing overpopulation. An experiment was conducted to measure survival, abundance of age-0 offspring, and growth of Black Crappie and hybrid crappie (female Black Crappie P. nigromaculatus × male White Crappie P. annularis) in small impoundments. Sixteen unfertilized 0.1-ha ponds were stocked with Black Crappie or hybrid crappie. Half of the ponds with Black Crappie and hybrid crappie were also stocked with Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides and Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus , and all ponds were stocked with Fathead Minnow Pimephales promelas as supplemental forage. In September 2013, ponds were harvested and drained; weight and lengths were recorded from all adult Black Crappie and hybrid crappie, and all age-0 Black Crappie and hybrid crappie were counted and recorded. Adult survival rates did not differ among groups (F = 0.72, df = 2, P = 0.5059), ranging from 25% to 58%. Predation and increased competition with other centrarchids may be a function of adult Black Crappie and hybrid crappie survival. The number of age-0 fish recovered from each pond was highly variable and ranged from 0 to 52,162 individuals, with no significant differences observed among the groups with and without predators (F = 3.73, df = 2, P = 0.0524). Hybrid crappie were significantly heavier (F = 14.36, df = 2, P = 0.0011) and longer (F = 8.45, df = 2, P = 0.0071) than Black Crappie. Growth rates for hybrid crappie were higher than any previously documented research of individual crappie species. High densities of Fathead Minnow for forage may explain the high growth rates. Hybrid crappie may be a viable alternative for stocking in small impoundments, but further investigation of the long-term success of stocked hybrid crappie is warranted. Received July 20, 2015; accepted December 11, 2015 Published online May 9, 2016