Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Aquamax feeds vs koi food

I am about to finish a bag of koi food that I purchased before I could locate any gamefish food. The problem was that after I bought some Aquamax grower 400 I could not seem to get my BG to eat it so after a few days I went back to using the koi food. The pellet size is the same but of course the koi food is much lighter colored. I even tried adding just a little bit of the Aquamax but everytime I did that they would resist eating? My BGs and hybrid stripers are eating great now on the koi food but I want to know how I can best transition them to some different food? Is the Aquamax too rich for them? I thought of using an intermediate protein feed slightly darker first. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If anything I would have thought that they would have liked the aquamax better. I would just keep giving them the aquamax they should start eating once they get hungry enough.

I agree with jes they will figure it out, stick with aquamax.

Transitioning between feeds can be difficult, but when they're hungry, they'll eat the new stuff.

I guess they're holding out just like the dogs might do. I'll wait them out and see what happens. Might work better now that the Hybrid Stripers are feeding so well. Last time I tried the new food, they weren't in there.

BTW, some of my Georgia Giant BG had grown from 1-2 inch to 6" in just 6 weeks! I caught two in the turtle trap and measured them. The koi food didn't hurt their growth anyway. I got some Aquamax 500 today so I'll be giving that a try. I'll post the results once I have them. Thanks for the help!

The fish are eating the Aquamax 500 quite well. First feeding I included about 20% koi food and on my second pass it appeared the fish were leaving the koi food and finshing the larger A 500 first. So now that they are larger and eating more aggressively, the new food is no problem. And the 500 (41% protein) is more bouyant than the 400 (45%), of which nearly half would sink. Full steam ahead! Automatic feeders are on the wish list. Most of my GG BGs look to be in the 4" range but hopefully they'll be big enough for some fishing fun by next year.

Matt, GG BG grow fast the first couple years, especially when feed I am sure by middle of next year you'll have fish over 8"... Break out the fryer!

My observations now tell me the fish are much more satiated on the Aquamax. Before, they ate heavily twice a day but now if I try to feed them twice the evening feeding is very lack luster. So I got out the fishing pole and caught about ten or so GGBG prior to feeding time and DAMN they were fat! So now I am going to a single feeding per day. Twice seems way unnecessary. I believe with higher quality feed, less food is actually fed. I've raised dogs my whole life and the same is true there. No real savings when you're feeding Ol'Roy and the health of the animal suffers. I'm gonna stick with the Aquamax, if I can find it. Feed stores here have a hell of a time getting it.

matt better to go to less amoutns twice per day.

I agree with Greg. BG/HBG/GG have small stomachs so they can't eat much at one time.

The problem I fear with feeding twice a day is that I may only be feeding the more aggressive half of the population both times? Also not sure how competitive the HSB are with the GGBG? Trying to get food to all. Might be over-thinking it but all the fish I pulled out had tattered tailfins so I assume there's some pushing and shoving going on down there.

The tattered tailfins sound like they've been fanning out beds. Since most HBG are males, and therefore probably most GG, and the males fan the beds, that could be the reason for that.

I vote with Greg and Eric on feeding twice a day rather than once. I'm working with a pond that has HBG in it, and I feed them three times a day and they hammer it at each feeding. But I'm only feeding as much as they clean up in about ten minutes. And especially in light of their small stomachs, you'll probably get more growth, possibly considerably more, with a twice-daily feeding of a little less. The general rule of thumb is never to feed more than they can clean up in ten to fifteen minutes.

Thanks for the info. How many locations should I be feeding at in a one acre pond? Right now I'm doing 5 places but the first location has become increasingly more active than the rest.

Wow, no wonder your bluegill are full - they've probably been running from feeder to feeder. Two locations per acre is plenty; if you have five stations going, you might think about setting different stations to go off at different times, three at one time and two at another perhaps. Are you using automatic feeders or feeding by hand? I'm guessing the latter? If so, you only need about two per acre, and that's one more than many pondmeisters employ. I prefer that ratio if trying to grow large bluegill though.

I meant three feeders at two times per day, and the other two at two times discrete from the times of the other three. If you're using feeders, of course.

Aha...Answered my own question, feeders on the wish list. Save the money you're spending on those three extra feeding locations and within a month you should have enough to get one of the $40 feeders Adirondack uses:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/moultrie-6-1-2-gal-econo-plus-feeder.aspx?a=552646

Yes, hand feeding. There are a couple willow trees along the bank I could hang the adirondack feeders from, Thanks