Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeding to much?

Hey all there has been a lot of talk about feeding lately and almost everyone here feeds 2,3,4, even 5 times as much as I do in a given day? I seem to have great results with 2 feed times a day at 2 seconds on my 1 acre pond.... I have a ton of BG too. Am I under feeding? My fish seem to be fine? Then I here someone folks feeding for 6, 8, 12 seconds at a time... Wow thats a ton of food.... I suppose there is no wrong answer here but there sure seems to be a LOT of leeway...as to feeding times.... I guess I like knowing my fish are eating other things in the pond as well as my feed. IMO let the pond feed your fish like it should to some degree it sure is a lot cheaper then buying all that food.

RC

I only feed my large bluegill and yellow perch once a day by hand and the fish do fine.

Hey Cecil I was just kinda wondering as there is such a large gap between what everyone does... lol We have everyone feeding from 2 seconds per feed a day up to 16 seconds I just think some of it's overkill but that's just me... I know there is no real answer for this question as Bill would say it all depends..... I think you could start to question is that much food really good for the fish? I don't know just thinking out loud I guess. I just find it funny that there is such a large gap on this subject as far as feeding times.... but I guess if you have 3,000 BG in your pond or more then maybe you need to feed more depending....


RC

There's a large gap in the amount of feeding times because (I think) it all depends on the particular goals for the pond.

You can supplementally feed a smaller amount 1x or 2x per day, or use feed as a primary source of food for the fish in your pond. It's all up to your goals for the pond. I feed 2x/day, depending on how they are feeding from 1 second per throw to 15 seconds per throw.

I think FireisHot could feed a couple of tons of feed per year because his fish are eating like crazy. If I were to try doing that I would have a lot of uneaten food in the pond. Plus not all ponds are the same size, feeding fish in a 1/2 ac pond is different than feeding fish in a 10 ac pond.

I have a 16 acre pond full of channel and blue cats. I think the only thing limiting the amount I feed is my pocket book. Point being, every pond is different depending on size, species, goals, etc.

You guys suggested to me early on that if the fish didn't clean the feed up in 15 minutes, I was probably throwing too much. I have BG, RES, GSF, LMB, BC, and CC...didn't plan on the GSF, but I got'em. I throw 8 seconds twice daily. The food is cleaned up in ~2 1/2 minutes. I've been known to throw out some by hand afterwards just to see if the fish will pick it up....and they do. I think it all depends on the size of the pond, concentration of the fish, and the geographic location of the pond as well.

Oh yeah I agree and don't think anyone is wrong for what they are doing it's just amazing to me that it can be such a difference and still all of us produce nice fish. That's the key goal nice fish! Maybe I need to up my seconds to 4 instead of 2. That may be the only way I ever get my ever elusive 2 pound BG!!

RC

Rc, get you some relative weight info on your fish. If you are keeping 100% or better then you are doing just fine. I think if you are looking for huge fish in a short amount of time then feed more. Most of my cnbg are around 120-130% relative weight. We do catch a lot and keep good records. I have caught a few "freaks" and have posted photos on this site. They were at 195% relative weight. I am feeding three 3 seconds in the am. and three 3 seconds in the pm.My pond is 2 acres and my fish spawned 3-4 times last year.I must have 4-5 thousand cnbg in the pond now. I will introduce my first bass this summer and even then they will be just fingerlings. THEY WILL BE IN HEAVEN. The fish are only going to live a few years if they are lucky. I am just trying to get mine as big as I can before the predators get them.

RC51, like esshup said, I only supplement my fish. My wife told me I can't afford to feed them much more than that, and I didn't ask her afford what. The following is just what I do on my particular pond. Not really any advice here, just stuff I've learned from playing with my fish and feeders over the last 3 years. My pond is 16 years old, so it had an existing LMB population.

I have 2 feeders on 11 acres of water, and feed my CNBG right at 1,500 pounds per 12 month cycles. I feed more in the spring and fall, less in the summer heat, and only hand throw in the winter on the afternoons when the water is warmer and the fish are active.

One feeder is set up to provide smaller CNBG with cover while they're eating, and one is set up with ambush points so the LMB can more easily target the CNBG. Both have deeper water close, so the CNBG retreat no more than 50' during temperature extremes. Both locations have worked out very well, and both were selected after hand throwing food around the pond, so the fish could tell me the spots they naturally preferred. Again, I had an older existing fish population.

On the feeder that provides cover for the CNBG while they eat, I throw up to 6 times a day for just 2-3 seconds. I'm currently feeding a 3/1 Cargill/Optimal mix, and I want the fish to stay in that cover as much as possible, so I throw less food more often.

I'm playing with the times on the feeder that has the LMB ambush points because I'm not sure how throw time length affects their feeding. Do short multiple throws provide them more opportunities at a meal, or do longer throws that are less frequent help them? I sure don't know, but I'm trying to find out. I feed Cargill 1/4" pellets in this feeder, and hand throw a larger Skretting food for the bigger fish after every feeder throw. This feeder is currently set for three 8 second throws a day.

I use artificial cover at both feeders because it's a lot easier to move if needed. Feeders can be used for much more than just feeding fish, because they're a great overall fisheries management tool as well. Anyway, that's how I use my feeders on my older pond.

Here's a couple of recent CNBG. They eat wherever they want.

Beautiful fish!!!!!

Purty nails too. How often do you paint them?

Al.......WOW!!! Also, love the deep color on these fish.

+1 on the awesome fish and...

+1 on the beautiful nails..... color match your eyes?

Those fish are incredible Fireishot!! Just curious, are there any relative weight charts that go that big?? What are yours averaging? Do you know?

Nice looking fish Fire, I believe my BG my BASS and my HSB are all doing great. Here are some from this year and last. This is with 2 , 2 second feedings a day for 7 months out of the year. Your BG are for sure one step above mine though. Course I only have 1 acre also... Not sure I could manage 11 acres.... like you do.











Even my HSB seem to be doing well. I wonder how well if I was feeding double what I am now???

RC51,
What type of feeder are you throwing out of? Is it the one that you have built the floats for in your pond...the 360 degree range feeder? It could be that 2 seconds on your feeder could be directly proportional to 4-5 seconds (or more) to a TH feeder (uni-directional). Nice specimens of fish you have there....I don't know if I'd change a thing.
Charlie

RC51, I agree with Charlie, your fish look great.

Scott, I texted my boss and told her you made fun of her hands. Team building is my forte.

The two main guidelines I have picked up here on PBF is:

1. feed no more than what the fish will clean up in 15 minutes

2. feeding more than 10 pounds of feed per day per acre can lead to water quality problems

I've decided to self-limit to less than 5 pounds per acre per day to try and safely stay away from water quality problems. To date about 4# is as high as I have ventured.

As far as how much my fish would eat if I fed it to them? Never have got to a high enough rate to find out. The exception to that is when conditions cause them to temporarily back off feed (hot water, cold water, etc). Then I back off the feed till they get hungry again.

I hand feed, usually twice a day. But I miss a day or two once in a while.

Not saying I do it correctly, just the way I been feeding.

I would think that a fish that is over fed is NOT as healthy as one that is moderately fed

Oh carp, I thought those were your nails! I'm in trouble now!!!! I'll put her name on the box that is headed South next week instead of yours then. That should fix things!!

Man those are good looking fish, must be doing something right guys! Keep up the good work

this sure is an interesting thread.

currently i am feeding 4 times a day with a sweeney. i feed only 1 second burst. once in the morning and three times in the evening spread out 30 minutes apart. i like my fish going to bed on a full stomach. thats what makes me fat and i feel like it will do the same for my cnbg.

pond is about 1.75 or maybe 2 acre. stocked with 2500 cnbg about 13 months ago. i really need to check some rw's.

i never fed over 1 second burst at my old pond and i grew cnbg that were 1.5 lbs plus.

i always try to remove any female that i catch and even some of the smaller males as long as there are larger enough for me to filet. otters also helped with management at the old pond.

i hope to have time to start catching and filleting here at the new pond soon. i wish i could hire someone to help filet fish on halves for me..lol

Would love to but it's a might to far of a drive.

Someone already mentioned population density, and I think that's a key point. We're feeding four ponds right now, and without question our biggest HBG come from a 2/3 acre pond that probably has no more than 100 HBG total in it. Fewer mouths to feed = bigger fish per smaller amounts of feed thrown.

I found myself asking awhile back, How much should I feed? So I go by from what I read hear the last 1.5 yrs, and try to feed till they won't eat, but man O man, my cnbg can eat LOL So , I have pinched back some on the feeder. A year and a half ago I added 3,500 cnbg in a 3.5 acre pond and with this last warm winter I had what is suspect was a "one more spawn" seeing 1" cnbg in Jan and Feb. There are a lot of cnbg in the pond, some I suspect are reaching 8" from what I have seen. Goals are to have some good sized cnbg to feed my up and coming Lonestar legacy (CBLMB). Plus a little fly line action with the BG.

Tracy

TRACY your "Legs" will tear up your fine population of CNBG before you know it and grow like crazy