Pond production and poststocking survival of large fingerling black crappies in Florida

We cultured fingerling black crappies Pomoxis nigromaculatus in 0.4-ha hatc hery ponds in Florida to evaluate the level of production and estimated sho rt-term (24-h) poststocking survival of fish stocked in Lake Lochloosa, Flo rida. Production of fingerling black crappies averaged 52,681 fish/ha but w as highly variable across ponds (0-168,439 fish/ha). Mean total length (TL) of cultured fish varied across ponds (76-219 mm), averaged 105 (+/-41) mm, and was inversely related (P = 0.005) to numbers of fish harvested. At the production level that we estimated (52,681 fish/ha), an average of 2 ha of hatchery pond space would be needed to culture a sufficient number of larg e fingerling black crappies (>76 mm TL) to stock a Florida lake of moderate size (2,000 ha) at 50 fish/ha. Short-term survival of fingerling black cra ppies was estimated to range from 70% to 100%.