I couldn't find a thread where this had been addressed before, but I'm sure it has been somewhere.

If fish food is supposed to replace or augment natural forage, has anyone tried to use a mixer/blender to make a pate out of fish remains? And would this be acceptable for CNBG fry?

Yes. However these days the concern is passing on pathogens if you don't heat to high temperature to kill those pathogens which the commercial feed producers do.

The VHS virus may have been spread by grinding up fish remains in Europe to feed trout and salmon.

I stole an old blender, but not sure I could get away with the oven too.

If it's a closed loop system like a pond, wouldn't those pathogens be an issue if the LMB were live fry or paste eaten by the BG? Or, do the pathogens develop as a fish ages?

The reason I'm asking all this, is with the discussions about fish food, over feeding, and fatty livers, I just thought it might actually be healthier for the BG to eat what they're already eating in a more palatable form.

If you are taking the fish from the pond you are feeding it should not be an issue. You could get a meat grindger and grind up any awefull you have left when you fillet bass etc and toss that back into feed the small fish. It would provided some smaller chunks of meat for them to eat.

Bobby, that was exactly my plan.

I disagree. Exposure to the environment while grinding and handling could be the start of a bacteria if not done in a way like in industry (heating up to a high temperature to sterilize the product).

Actually I was talking about pathogens that are specific to fish in general vs. just your run of the mill bacterial issues. I'm thinking grinding up fish from the same pond would not be an issue.

That said doing this ona regular basis will get old fast as it's quite labor intensive.

IF you grind it at the point catch and clean the fish and dump it to right way perhaps it seems you would have no chance for bacteria to grow you just feeding fresh meat. If you stored it bacteria certainly could be an issue.

Marina by my house has an electric comercial one at tht fish cleaning station, Turn it on drop in your fish (minus the Fillets). grinds and dumps right into the water. Little fish around it all teh time.

Thanks guys. I'll decide next time I clean fish. But, Cecil you're right. Work at the pond, I don't need any more of.

FIH, also when you remove the fish, you are removing nutrients, which help with any FA/weed problems if your pond is running high on nutrients.

Esshup, good point. I'm actually pretty good right now as my CNBG are eating AM 400, but I was thinking this might work to give the fry a bump right after spawns in my brood pond. I should have a few more months before I try it, so I'll take the whole picture into consideration before I decide.

I've been grinding up AM, but thought this might be better for the fish.

For what it is worth I have been feeding cleaned fish remains to the CC from time to time for over 10 years with no issues. They also from time to time get leftover bait I keep on ice for them (Cigar minnows, squid, shrimp, Ballyhoo, menhaden, sardines, northern / boston mackeral, threadfin herring & bonita strips).

A very good idea in my book. Matter of fact I have an old garbage disposal that would do the big chop chop on leftovers.
I think I will stick to the heads and organs and leave out the stomach and intestines. The poop probably does not do much for the fish. Might let one cut back a little on the feeder,will have to see.
Thanks for the share FIH!

We have a eagle's nest about 50 ft. from the top of our back pond. We leave a lot of fish on the ground around the boat dock. The eyes and the guts are the first things they eat so I suspect this is what is the best for them. GBH do the same thing so I would grind all of the fish up.

I have been culling stunted LMB from a buddies pond for him. I have been chopping them in half and tossing back in for the one big CC to eat up.

BobbyRice - Culling, cutting, and chumming a catfish with 1/2 bodies of stunted blugill or LMB is a good idea for eventually catching shy bite catfish. Once you have it or them feeding regularly on the chum, slip a hook into one of the cut halves. Fish on!

Ha Ha

My crow family go for the eyeballs and innards first too. I think it's just easier for them to eat. However if they are really hungry, as in the dead of winter, it's amazing how clean they can leave a fish skin. Same goes for a snake. They seem to have skinning and eating a snake down to a science. I also think they love the challenge of killing a snake.

There is no way I would ever shoot a crow again. Too much fun to have around.

Crows rule the roost, they torment the other birds of prey and turkeys. When I hunt,if I hear the crows, I go straight to them. You never know what they are bugging. They are fun to watch.

ken i've noticed crows torment the feral hogs on my property.

Not like the video below, but they give 'em hell.

On Wed I noticed a bunch of crows feathers on the ground back in the woods, so maybe one got to close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXdt7tDNU54

Mark, they torment anything they want to. I have found a few dead crows and several buzzards but I think it is most likely they get old and die. We have plenty of both of these but I have never seen anything try to attack one. The crows do not bother the buzzards here(maybe something to do with their breath).

you could create a worm bin, or black soldier fly bin for the scraps, and feed the fish the worms/bsf..
and have great compost for the garden

Like This?

keith, we weekend there so I've had big issues even getting production out of my regular compost pile. It just cooks the moisture out to fast even doing the correct wet to dry mix. The BSF is something I researched before, but I couldn't keep it active.

Bobby, I like that. We haven't used commercial fertilizer in our raised beds for over 10 years because of things like that. Waste not, want not.

My grandmother would bury all the fish scraps in the garden. In the Spring I'd be tasked with catching/shooting (archery) a bunch of carp for the garden. She'd also be burying fish scraps every week when I brought fish home for her. Her garden flourished.

If there's a FA problem in the pond, I'd be burying the fish before putting them back into the pond as pâté to help reduce the nutrient load.

I remember when my grandparents sold the farm and moved to a local lake to retire. The put out a couple of china berry trees, one on each side of the entrance. In the hole of one, they tossed a big carp that had been caught on a trotline. That tree, after 3 years, was about twice as large as the other one.

I have heard of people floating dead animals on a chicken wire raft about 1' off the water. The idea is that once the flies get it the maggots will start soon after. Eventually they will fall through the screen and feed your fish. I imagine this would work for fish as well. As long as you could stand the smell I think it would work slick.

Quite a few years ago Mother Earth News had a fish feeder story using road kill. Take a dead animal and hang it out over the pond. The flies would come and their maggots would drop into the water for the fish. I never got around to trying it.

I'm still gonna try it in my brood pond, but I just haven't had the time. I figured the best way to do it was sinking a pipe at a 45 degree angle into the bank, and then hanging a basket full of bits off another pole slid into that one. I just want to make sure it hangs far enough out to be critter proof.

My lake only has FHM and small GSH in it right now. I don't know if they would even eat maggots. Any thoughts?