Wanting to know experiences with these fish in ponds.

The possible pond they would go into is a 4-5 acre spring fed pond in north east Texas. Depth is up to 25� and average is about 12�. Pond currently only has bass and sunfish/bluegill of different varieties, along with any random little minnows and mosquito fish. Lots of grass, fallen trees, and steep banks.

I like them but, in the presence of bass, stocking/survival might be a problem.

I don't like them in bass ponds but love to catch them in lakes.

The negatives I found are :

1) voracious eaters. If you don't keep them fed, they will clean out everything they can get in their mouths
2) short lived...in our Texas summers they won't survive much past three years
3) very intolerant of summer high water temps...can not safely catch and release in summer
4) no reproduction...put and take only

The pond they would potentially go into isn�t one we�re necessarily worried about the bass in. The pond rarely gets fished with all the other ponds on the property.

Depends on your objectives...if you don't care about LMB then HSB may work for you. I definitely would not use them without artificial feeding....that would be asking for trouble.

I�m referring to the probability that the existing bass would eat them before they grow. But, I�m assuming that you are talking about stocking hybrids of 6 inches or less.