The red ear gets its name by the black flap which is bordered by a reddish orange color at the top of their gills. This gives them the appearance of having a red ear.
Red ear enjoy deep clear water and can grow up to 14 inches and reach over 5 pounds. The red ear we sell are not hybrids so they will reproduce. The ones shown above are 2-3 inches which is the largest size we sell.
Often nicknamed 'shellcracker redear' because they prefer to eat small shelled organisms such as small clams and snails. Perfect for ridding your lake of unwanted snails.
Fish in your pond can get a disease called black spot. Not to be confused with some fishes natural black spots these spots are actually parasites which harm the fish and spread to other fish quickly. Kingfishers and some other birds eat small fish having the black spot parasites and then bring the pests to your pond in their bird droppings. Snails in the pond eat the bird droppings and the parasites are then carried by the snails to the fish. The grubs that get in the body of the fish are also brought in by bird droppings and in a like manner also carried by the snails.
If you have an older pond then put in 200 or 300 redears per acre and they will grow and reproduce. If your pond has a heavy bass population then the idea is that a percentage of the redears will survive to be adult fish and reproduce. In new ponds almost all will survive.
Stocking redears in your ponds helps stop parasites by removing snails, gives you some very BIG fish to catch, and gives you a fish that reproduces to feed your bass. It is always good to get multiple benefits from stocking fish.