Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations is it to early?

I would like to put the rest of my fish in my pond and I was thinking of instant gradification. I was thinking about buying the rest of my CC by the pound and putting the largest CNBG in that they have. Will the little one's I put in a few months ago become CC food?

OK,

I would think if your going to feed the catfish you would be fine. I am sure the bigger cats are feed trained. I have to tell ya, the 8-10 inch cats get big real fast, especially as it warms up and your feeding them.

My step son keeps asking when he can fish. I thought if I put bigger CC in, he could fish this summer. I'm going out this weekend to buy my first bag of feed.

I put 8-10 inch cats in right about this time of year, last year... feed them and by summer there good catchable size. By late fall mine were 5 pounds in less then a year, I fed the heck out of them, not in the dead heat of summer though.

Twice a day?

As spring comess, once then as late spring came sometime twice, sometimes 3 but then as it got real hot I cut back to once and sometime just a little, then as summer cooled I fed twice again. Most everyone dont, but being a newbie I did. I was sure to never over feed them though. The cats never left a sigle pellet uneaten. I guess the trick is not to polute the water especially in a small pond.

My fish are on feed already, not so much the catfish but everything else is. The trout are on fire right now.

Are you sure you have to back up on feed for catfish in hot weather? I thought they thrived in really warm water.

You know Cecil I try to listen to everyone, people here say watch the hot weather, so I cut back when I thought it was going to overload the pond, maybe oxigen problems or... I am not really sure I was just sort of listening to the boards about the dead heat of summer to not overfeed.

Actually I was just asking as I don't know for sure myself when it comes to catfish. Seems to me if your population density is not too high you would be O.K. I know catfish optimum growth temps are 80 to 85 F.

I didn't know if it was to early to start feeding or not, so I thought I would try alittle and see what happens.

Maybe one of the pond boss members who know more about the dead heat of summer and feeding the fish could give a quick post about feeding when its real hot.

OK, throw a handfull in and see, you probly better to get some feeding twards the end of the day after the water warms up. If I feed mine in the AM now I get only a few to eat, but at 5 pm its the best. My fish/sunnys/HSB ate all winter even when the water was below 50. I dont think any catfish fed on pellets that cold but I suspect they will start very soon my water is steadily 57 with 60 and more during the afternoons.

I feed all summer, early morning, late evening, as long as they (bg, cc, lmb) clean it up in 10~~12 minutes. 15 minute clean-up is good per discussions in here, but I want to make sure I don't add any polluting factors, ie: wasted pellets.

okiefish, FYI, My catfish started feeding again last week...

OKIE, I found this.. dont mean its right but its something to read.

Guidelines for providing supplemental feed for bream are as follows:

Use a small (i.e., BB size) fingerling catfish pelleted feed with at least 25% protein. The small size is necessary so the bream can easily consume the feed. Higher protein feeds (i.e., 32-36%) are more costly and are not necessary since enhanced growth can be achieved with lower formulations.

Keep your feed in a plastic storage bin to prevent rodents and moisture from ruining the feed.

First task is to train the bream to readily consume the floating feed. Start by feeding the bream a small amount of feed (i.e., several handfuls of feed) from the same location and at the same time daily.

Once the bream are readily consuming the feed, provide no more than they can consume in 15 minutes. A floating type feed will make this observation easy.

Do not exceed the maximum daily feeding rate of 10 lbs. per acre. Supplying more than this amount could lead to a fish kill due to oxygen depletion from decomposing food. In highly fertile ponds, (i.e., ponds with a high calcium content or otherwise known as "prairie-soil" ponds) the recommended daily feeding rate is 3-5 lbs. per acre.

Feed the bream daily throughout the growing season beginning in March or when the water temperature stabilizes above 60oF through November. However, decrease feeding to 3-4 times each week during the hot summer months.

Winter feeding is not necessary as the metabolic rate of fish decreases in relation to the decreasing water temperatures. Few benefits are achieved from winter feeding.

Although not necessary, some pond owners are choosing to use automated feeders to feed the bream. One automated feeder is adequate for every 5 surface acres of water. This is a general rule and is really dependent on how much the pond owner is willing to spend on supplemental feeding.

Thanks for all the info. I will check my water temp and see where I'm at. So, what do yall think about buying my last 25 CC by the pound?

I think if you stock larger CC, they will not make a huge impact on small CNBG, especially if fed.