Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeding time change?

OK now that it has finally turned into a normal summer here and my water temp is 80 @ 1' the Yp won't come up to feed on floating pellets. I run my Aeration from 4 AM to 8 AM. I feed at sundown, approximately 8:45 PM. Should I start feeding at around 7 AM after the pond has been turned over? I will check the surface temp tomorrow around 7 AM and see what it reads.

Can you check the DO early in the am. Low DOs result in less active fish and less feeding. However 80 is prime temp for BG feeding efficiancy.

I don't have a DO meter. Should'nt the DO be good after running the aerator? I only have YP SMB and HSB.

DOs should be better than normal with the aeration. Its timing when you only run it part time. DO usually lowest in summer in early am absent aeration. you shold be ok. May want to increase the run time to be sure.

Checked the temp @ 7:30 and it was 71 @ 1' fed a couple of handfuls and got very little response. Guess I'll just switch to every other evening.

HSB and SMB are not feeding either in the evening? New time of morning feeding will get very little response when you have been previously feeding just before dark. Fish are strong creatures of habit. Larger HSB and maybe those older SMB can get a little heat stress and maybe slow feeding activity in 80F+ water. My perch especially the large ones always stop feeding when water gets around 80F.

Bob, when the water temps are up there, I see feeding response reduced in daylight hours. They will feed better during twilight hours, but before full dark.

I even see a better feeding response in shade vs. full sun.

YP may well be temp restrained. 80 is in the optimum feeding range for BG and LMB while HSB do better at 75.

My concern after your last post is the drastic change in water temps. A 9 degree change is a lot in a few days absent some big change event.

Studies are clear that temp concerns are on 2 fronts. Both can be lethal. One is the lethal min and max temp of a species which is the one most watched and discussed. In this category change is gradual and stress builds slowly and lingers. Perhaps the most deadly is however rapid change (rate of temp change) even well within the min - max range.

Are you sure you got a 9 degree change that fast without a big event (big cold rain etc )? If you did then that alone would shut down feeding until the biological functions had time to adapt and balance.

I checked last eve @ 8:45(sunset) and it was 79, I fed and they all ate pretty well. This am @ 7:30 it was 72. No rain or anything else but my pond is only about .20 acre with 3-1 slope and 9'deep. BC believes my Aeration system turns the pond over around 1 and 1/2 times in the 4 hrs. Guess I was just lookin at it too hard.

Bob-O - hard looking can strain you brain. Be cautious.

Bill, thanks for the heads up but my brain is on injured/reserved already.

Interesting that aeration is lowering the water temps that much over a day period.

I can tell ya this, sometimes when it's hot as haydees (last yr, surface temps at 90) and I turn on the aerator for the grandkids, the water around the boil will harden yer nipples and shrivel other appendages.

The pond bottom water cools noticeably when the aerator is shut off each day for 16-20 hrs, thus the temperature difference that Bob-O is seeing. Yellow perch growers use this characteristic to their advantage in keeping the water a little cooler during mid-summer.

Yes as long as you can keep the cold bottom water DO high enough when mixed.

The method is a little easier and forgiving to use with YP since they have a higher tolerance for low DO. Minimum DO for most aerobic bacteria decomposers to stay active is 1 (+/-0.5ppm) (mg/L).