Fifteen days ago I stocked 45 six to seven inch CC in my new pond. It will be 1/4 acre when full, but is about 1/6 acre now and almost 7 feet deep. I have not been able to get them to come to feed. The CC in my older pond right next to it have been coming to feed off and on for over three weeks now. Maybe the new ones died? What to do to feed train? They should have been trained when I got them, but I am sure they were very crowded then. I have been throwing a few handfuls of range cubes into deeper water every few days since I got them, since there isn't much forage there.
It may still be a little cool. I'm at our North Carolina home, and it has been cooler in March than it was in February. Our ponds in this area are probably still in the 50s.
I pretty seriously doubt they died. I've stocked a lot catfish of that size over the years, and I don't think I've had very many mortalities.
I wouldn't be too concerned until your water gets into the mid to upper 60s. Then a handful of food late each afternoon should get a few coming in. Then it soon should be a feeding frenzy.
At that size, the pellet size shouldn't make much difference. And catfish aren't real fussy about the feed they will take.
Don't feed the range cubes. That doesn't help their nutrition, it's contrary to getting them to come to fish food, and it can hurt water quality. When you feed your other catfish, toss a couple of handfuls of floating fish food to your new fish. Be consistent, same place, same time each day you feed. It may take two to three weeks, but they will eventually start coming. But, consistency is the key to condition your new fish to their new home and your feeding regimen.
Teach a man to grow fish... He can teach to catch fish...
Don't feed the range cubes. That doesn't help their nutrition, it's contrary to getting them to come to fish food, and it can hurt water quality. When you feed your other catfish, toss a couple of handfuls of floating fish food to your new fish. Be consistent, same place, same time each day you feed. It may take two to three weeks, but they will eventually start coming. But, consistency is the key to condition your new fish to their new home and your feeding regimen.
The other catfish that come to feed are in an adjacent pond. The small catfish are the only fish in the new pond, other than 35 two inch RES and a few hundred FHM. I have not been able to find any sinking catfish food, hence the 14% protein range cubes. I won't feed any more range cubes to them. I have a feed ring installed to contain the food in the same place every feeding.
The new pond full pool is the blue patch in the attached Google Earth pic. It's now about 2/3 the size depicted.
I'd never before heard of range cubes. I was surprised when I Googled them after Bob's post, and almost all the hits referenced catfish.
When I posted above I made the bad mistake of assuming they were another local name for some type of regular catfish fish pellets -- kind of like perch (bluegill) and tanks (ponds) in Texas.
Where you are feeding in a ring John the floating will soon enough turn into sinking absent any other fish to eat it.
For what it is worth, I hardly ever saw my CC the first year. It was the second year before many started feeding at the surface. But I feed over a large area as opposed to a specific small area, (entire circumference of pond) so that could have had something to do with it.
If I stayed and fed in one spot for a while, I would see a CC sneak in and snag a pellet that had sank. They were very skittish the first year and avoided being seen. Any movement by me and they were gone.
I agree with snrub. Try throwing out your food and then backing away and sitting down. I have found that helps to get my newly stocked fish to come to the surface.
My first batch of CC that I stocked in late September 2015 started eating pellets well the second day after stocking and didn't quit until the water temp dropped into the upper 50's. The spring of '16, they started eating again, becoming more aggressive as the water warmed. By May it was a frenzy like in a hatchery pond. Today a school of my original CC came swarming around the feed about a foot under the surface, and I saw several skimming the top. I am throwing a couple of handfuls into the new pond feeding ring every afternoon, and so far only FHM coming up. The food sinks after a half hour or so...maybe the CC eat it then.
My experience was much like John F...the CC and BC started feeding the day after I stocked them the summer of '15 and didn't stop until I cut the feeder off in late November. They would skim the surface, with mouths open like little vaccuum cleaners sucking the pellets up. Looked like the water boiled when the feeder went off. Not so much any longer at 18 - 20"...I guess their diet changed.
Still no response from the new CC in the new pond.
Another question: I just purchased a new bag of 32% protein floating catfish food. The pellet size is only 2/3 of the size that I had been getting, and the BG in my older pond are eating a lot of it. Does it do BG any good to eat catfish pellets?
I wonder if size of pond and available natural food makes a difference.
I did not see much of my fish for a year, but I only had 300 CC in a three acre pond.
I wonder if higher stocking numbers for a given smaller area might make them more inclined to go for artificial feed?
Another thing I just thought of, I do not feed as consistently hand feeding as a feeder would be and also I feed over a wide area instead of a single spot. This does not seem to affect my BG or larger CC, (they readily consume all the feed) but it might have had something to do with me not seeing much of them the first year.
