I am going to purchase this model for automatic feeding of a 1.5 acre pond. My question is: Is 1 feeder enough? It says on the website that the spray is about 20 feet. Will this reach enough of the fish or should we have 2 feeders set up?

I would assume that the fish will "train" themselves to know when the feeding time is (it will be set on an auto timer, twice a day) so maybe they will travel to the side of the pond that the feeder is on?

We are also going to have fathead minnows in the pond as a food source (along with anything else that washes into the pond - crawfish, chubs, tadpoles/frogs).

Planning on having LMB, BG, and maybe Crappie.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Personally i would not have crappie in a pond that size. for one thing they are going to spawn earlier and compete with your bass for food. I guess if you harvest them continually and stay on top of it it could possibly work. Maybe if you stock them after the bass are already established. personally I would stick with BG and LMB.

As far as the feeder goes I think one feeder should be fine. you assume correct i think when you say the fish will "train" themselves to the feeder.

They feeding will certainly help you BG spawn more and be more healthy. The guys here say to use the higher protein food, not just the catfish kind.

Good Luck!!

If the fish (mainly talking about LMB here) are not feed trained when stocked, they won't feed train themselves.

I would strongly advise you not to stock crappie in the pond. There's a ton of information on here why not to stock them in small ponds.

You can also buy feed trained Yellow Perch. While they might not last forever in your pond, they would provide another angling opportunity and also provide food for the LMB.

In my pond, which at full pool is close to the size of yours, I have one feeder. Some fish on the opposite side of the pond are thinner than the ones on the side where the feeder is. BUT, I have a Stren AquaPro feeder, and it's turned down to feed the minimum amount possible, so I'd be overfeeding if I had 2 feeders. Texas Hunter feeders have a finer feeding adjustment on them, so if I had 2 of them, I could feed the same total amount but in 2 different places.

Some people have good luck with Moultrie Feeders, some don't.

Thanks guys. Yeah, just looked at my notes and saw all the negative stuff about the WC/BC. We will pass on those. YP would be an interesting add.

How about the FHM? When do they spawn? Any chance that the minnows I buy in about 2 weeks will already have eggs in them? Was hoping to build a nice population of FHM before the stocked fish get too big and take them all out.

We will be putting plenty of cover in the shallow water and have two huge areas of cover (rock pile about 3 feet high and stump pile about 2 feet high) ini the deepest part of the pond (20 feet).

The fish will use those rock/stump piles in the middle of winter, I doubt that they will be used much in summer, even with a botton diffuser aeration system.

FHM typically spawn May thru August on the underside of cover in shallow water.