I am considering buying a feeder for a 3 acre pond with bream, catfish and bass. We put in grass carp to control grass. If I feed with a fish feeder, will the grass carp eat only the feed and not the grass? I have been hand feeding some and have noticed that two or three of the fifteen grass carp eat the food pellets.

rbt,
The grass carp will eat the food. It is a catch 22. THey will however also eat weeds between the feeder times.

My experience with grasss carp is they have a fairly big range of food preferences. Some prefer fish pellets compared to plants while most like plants (especially the softer types) best and start eating pellets when plants become scarse. There also seems to be a variation in their preferences of plant tastes. I compare all this to food preferences of different people.

I think (but have not tested this) that if you can discourage them from eating pellets, they will resort to eating more plants. Since grass carp are very spooky or shy try scaring them by shooting at them or throwing something at them while they are eating pellets. This would serve as negative reinforcement similar to spanking a child. Let us know if you try this and if it worked.

A belated thanks for your feedback. It's just now getting warm enough for the grass carp to become active. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.