Helping a friend that has an automatic fish feeder for his pond. He has carp and catfish along with smaller brim in the pond. Hes worried the smaller fish are not getting any because the larger fish swarm when the feed comes out. Any suggestions to get the brim fed as well?
Best suggestion - harvest a fair number of the larger fish. When you feed, harvest becomes a big part of the fishery management. Overcrowding is bad for having healthy fish and a balanced pond.
Despite Bill's lack of manners, some of us have some. WELCOME to the forum!!!
I think I'm just becoming disgruntled with the entire human race. Manners, such as extending a welcome to a new poster, are always appreciated. But whatever happened to the new poster taking a second to say hello first, maybe a brief introduction?
The archives are full of info for those who simply want an answer without interaction. But when you engage, good manners would seem to dictate the need for at least a more personal and informative opening post.
Not meant as a sermon to the op, just one guy's observation and opinion.
Sparkie, short and to the point, but I hear ya. I think emails and texting has reduced contact and relationships on a personal level. Kinda like making war and or death easy to swallow in a game world and then to the real world.
Chris the OP must not be from Michigan (originally
) No one in the north knows what a 'Brim' is. Welcome to the forum Chris from another Michigan local. Did we help you with your problem yet?
He,he.... Ok ok welcome and all that stuff. Chris we are a pretty close nit of folks here. We actually do have a GREAT forum and can help you out for sure, but with that said you may get more answers throwing honey around than vinegar... lol
Either way Welcome and if it were me I would crush feed in a bag and then put it in a cup and throw it out along the shore line where the bigger fish may not go right away. I think if you crush it the bigger fish may also not mess with it as fast and miss a lot of it. That is if you can be there to do this. If you are not there to do this then you may want to mix your food with bigger bites and smaller bites. I do this from time to time my bigger fish don't really mess with the tiny stuff there for it will fall to the bottom or close to it where the smaller fish can get some first.
Good Luck,
RC
Good varied advice from members which is why a form works well and better than getting advice from just one person. Often advice from just one person is to some degree biased.
Try mixing Aquamax 500 and 600 or feed the new Purina Aquamax Sport fish MVP(milti-variable pellet) that claims to have 9 pellet sizes ( 1/8"-9/32") in one bag. Regardless, removing some of the pellet hogs would be a wise thing to do to allow the smaller fish to grow 'better'.
Welcome to PB posting Chris. Because many of us have know each other for a while we sometimes get short with each other. Sometimes we discuss the minutiae of things and never get a good answer - but we all learn from the effort. There is a lot of very good info on the Forum. Most answers of any value start with facts - the more the better. Water quality and carrying capacity are 2 key concepts. Two more are know your fish species and how to manage them. A lot of that is present in the answers /advice above. Keep asking questions and reading and you will be able to have the pond you want.
Eric put me on to the mixing of two types of food. I mean duh I don't know why I didn't think of that myself... lol In my case it actually serves 2 purposes.
1. Feeds the smaller fish but also
2. I have a DIY deer feeder I use to feed my fish and the big AM600 would sometimes get stuck in the funnel and not drop down I think this is due to the high humidity here. Once I mixed it though so there would be different type sizes all in it that issue for the most part has gone away.
RC
Welcome!! I have learned MORE than I could have ever imagined here. Great place to be!!
I agree with all the posts about feeding, I would first have a fish fry...or maybe a few...then when time for new feed use the multi sized pellets like was already stated.
Do a search on balancing your fish numbers. Many on here have discussed the hows and whys of keeping your numbers and sizes balanced so you dont get stunting and get the most from your expensive feed. The balancing will make all your fish more healthy. Mr. Cody alluded to that with his post.
Hello and Welcome Chris.
I was/am a newbie here. This is an awesome place and the members here are a friendly bunch and willing to help any way they can. I too have pellet hogs and what we did was feed at a couple of places at the same time. We hand feed and Mom and myself stand about 40 feet apart and chunk. The little ones get a chance at some food. It's not a perfect system by any means, especially if you have Catfish as I do, but that's all we could think of doing and it seems to have worked to some degree.
Thanks for all the help guys! I appreciate all the responses, I know this was more of a random question but anything always helps and was looking for some extra tips to help out an neighbor obsessed with his fish.