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

Pat, that is the 64 thousand dollar question. Just how much IS too much?

I'm not feeding nearly all my fish will eat. But probably all my pocketbook wants to afford.

I think one of my problems is my LMB are not doing their job well enough and I have too many BG numbers to feed. Caught an 8.5" BG the other day, but I have loads and loads in the 6-7" range. I think I could easily feed 4 times a day and with the "consumption within 15 minutes" rule being applied be feeding 8 or 10 pounds of feed per acre per day. Given that, I consider I'm only feeding about half of what they would eat given the chance.

Also have some 3# CC that need to be harvested. And they have not even got completely up to speed feeding yet (seeing none yet on the surface feeding). Mostly I see the BG feeding till the water warms some more.

Hey All sorry was out of pocket this weekend. Stick I have a Remington 30 gallon deer feeder that I use. Your right never thought about the fact that it may be chunking as much food then the TH does in the 2 seconds that it feeds.... As Eric said in the last pic with that bass I do notice that he / she seems to be just a bit under weight.... Not sure if that's from post spawn or if I am starting to get a little out of balance.... I will keep an eye on it that's for sure!! RW's here I come!!!

RC

Well it's a bit long on the front end take about 40 seconds before feeder goes off but this is a 2 second burst from my feeder as it sits now. Soon it will be on my new float! As you can see this was last summer water is a bit low but fish were eating good and I got Chara on the bank!! lol

RC

https://youtu.be/BUK4SHyNphY

Guys great thread. Much here on the Forum lately on feeding. We need to work up a good/informative post or posts on feeding - the hows , whys and whats of the topic. Here is a bit from a prior post. Will work on more.


There is a lot going on in the area of studies on pelleted feeding at this time. The research both published and private is growing rapidly. I am not sure anyone can keep track of what all is in the works. I am sure no one knows all the answers yet so several factors should be considered.

Water quality

Goals

Species fed

cost/budget

degree of feeding - supplemental % from just a little to caged or RAS fish, etc.


Along the feeding spectrum there is a big difference between small supplemental feeding programs on larger waters to small systems (small ponds or RAS systems)with high biomass/fish loads. The question is what % of your fish's nutritional requirements/feed are being provided by pelleted feed. What you do and what you buy are directly tied to the above factors.

One other point - there is concern over the long term effect of feeding on fish condition/health/longevity when IMO the fish receive a large part of their nutrition from pellets. Not so much when the fish only get a small supplemental feeding.

Another major concern IMO is carrying capacity/harvest/and population management. For any action that ramps up the engine of a pond (feeding , fertilization or other) the more critical the management. All factors need to be considered along with your goals. That is where harvest and RW/condition come in to work. A very bad outcome usually occurs when the engine is ramped up for a couple years then you turn the engine down ( i.e. stop feeding / fertilization etc. ) unless you really harvest out the portion over you normal carrying capacity.

I have also noticed that my HSB have been eating both pellets and fish... No way they could look like they do without eating fish as I don't feed from mid October till Mid March. I literally saw one hammer a small BG I was using one day the sun was just right and he was shaking it back and forth when I set the hook he let it go though but it was so cool to see. I couldn't believe how big they had gotten!! I may very well move up to 3 seconds this spring in April. I have a lot of big fish now and I am sure they could handle it!

RC

HSB can utilize carbs from the fish food unlike most predator fish .