Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding how many times/day to feed, and when?

We just started feeding in our 2 year old 2.2 acre pond. We got the point about feeding only what the fish will clean up in about 10 minutes. Right now, we're feeding twice per day, at 8:00 am and at 6:00 pm. Any advice about how many times per day to feed, and when to feed? We have bream and channel cats. Thanks.

we are feeding twice a day,9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.this seems to work pretty good for us.

rbt712,

I've engaged several on the Forum on the topic of how long/how much to feed...challenging the conventional wisdom of feeding all that they will clean up within 15 minutes.

Just for fun, I'll give you my view and you make up your mind what is best for you and your situation.

First, if I feed by the 15 minute code, I might as well buy a feed company...it would require so much feed and so much expense.

Second, Nature will compensate for whatever we do...lots of feed means lots of excrement, lots of nutrients, and lots of algae and weeds.

Third, a full fish is not a good biting fish. A hungry fish is a good catching fish.

Fourth, LMB become conditioned to the feeding frenzy and pick off unsuspecting BG at the feeders...and as a result are harder to catch.

My conclusion has been to ignore the 15 minute code and try to find a balance for your pond and your situation. Its takes some trial and error, but is much better than following some 15 minute axiom which may or may not work for everyone.

There, now you decide.

Thanks. I'll stick with the 10 minutes twice a day for now and see how it goes.

Twice a day 10 minutes sounds good to me, unless you do a monthly inventory of your average fish weights, go by percentage of weight to feed your fish taking into consideration the water temperature like the commercial operations, which of course is impracticle in recreations ponds.

It's a general consensus that fish WILL EAT more than they need. I guess they're just like people in that regard.

I'm only feeding my bass, perch, and bluegills once a day right now due to low water temps. Of course my trout which are coldwater fish in another pond are going gangbusters. You definitely don't want to overfeed warmwater fish in cool water.

Thanks. So far, the cats are doing the eating, and the bream get a little bit at the outset but seem scared off by the cats.