Originally Posted By: Jason007
Originally Posted By: Rainman
Originally Posted By: Jason007


Originally Posted By: Jason007

My fish most certainly have more than they can eat. None of them have died. All they have done is grow. It's not like I have any way to cut off their feeding as Mr. Snrub has suggested. Now on the other hand, I can stop feeding high protein pellets, but that is in no way going to stop the fish from feeding on other critters that are also high in protein.

For fish to grow, they have to eat. And they will. Whether you stop feeding them or not......if they have a forage base, they ARE going to eat. Sure.....that does slow down given certain temperatures. But feeding tendencies do not.....and will not, stop.

Here's the other thing about digestion and metabolism.
Just because it gets cold, a fish does not lose its digestive abilities. The necessary bodily fluids are still there and they still break down consumed forage the exact same way. That is not what changes when the water gets cold. It doesn't change.

What changes is the fish become inactive as temperatures drop, burning far less calories due to inactivity. In turn it requires far less forage/calories to maintain its weight, or even add weight.

In short , if a fish is going to eat itself to death, and you have a forage base that allows for it. Then you can't stop it.


Everything in red italic is scientific fact. So lets debate these findings.


I see a lot of opining, conjecture, theorizing and hypothesis in red, but little "fact".

Fish are opportunistic and will eat when they can. When cold and the metabolism slows, they still eat, yet the feed is not digested, metabolized nor utilized the same. In a 2 year University of Arkansas study involving catfish, they discovered feeding weekly, or not feeding at all, when water temps drop below 55*, the fish lost the same amount of weight. Feeding daily however, even to water temps of 45*, fish did not lose weight (nor did they gain weight). It's unclear if the cost of daily feeding in cold water outweighs waiting till water warms, food conversion efficiency increases, and less feed is required to regain lost weight. It was noted more mortalities were discovered from visceral toxicosis of catfish (VTC), a rather tough disease to work through. Catfish can acquire it by eating dead fish in the pond. It was unclear if daily feeding had killed fish originally....

What I see, at best, from winter feeding is you get no gain in growth, but lose money from feed expenses, and can potentially create more problems than not feeding at all....


The facts are,,,,,,,go take a look at the photos I posted.
Those are the facts. Notice the growth from one bream ( which was at that time was a large bream for its age) posted 2 months ago, or less..........then look at the most recent.

Telling tale, is it not?

You are incorrect. When they eat , they put on weight.....especially when they eat when the metabolism slows and they are still packing it in.Why??? Because inactivity when they're not feeding, or as active , due to slower metabolism..cannot burn the calories as quickly. It's somewhat impossible. This is exactly why people get fat when they get older. The metabolism slows and the calories are still being packed in. Can we argue this?
I suppose I will have 7 month old wild fish, with high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and dare we say , " clogged arteries?

As far as Mortality.........ZERO. Nothing.
Wanna talk immune deficiency now, from the authority " garden web? In wild game fish?
It doesn't happen.

Which they are not......utilizing? In other words fish can eat.....pack on calories, but it's useless and does them no good.....instinctively.....to eat.....which is an essential requirement for every single animal on this planet.

That just makes absolutely no sense at all.
None.
Where did you copy this from?

No disrespect intended, but this MYTH of pellet feeding when Temps drop is total , unequivocal BS, conjured up from the internet. The fish will eat.........and yes.....they will utilize calories like every other animal on the face of this planet for 500 million years...or more. No matter what the situation. Period. Scientific FACT........if you will.

Like I said, I shall prove this .....Glorified fantasy.......incorrect.

Then afterwards......









Wow! Why is it only one person has mentioned "garden web" (which I have never seen, btw) and "fish dying" from eating pellets while screaming like they are passing a bowling ball sized kidney stone?!?!?

Jason, you asked me a question about how digestion and nutrient uptake changes when it is cold, and I will attempt to answer that, in layman's terms. Whether you can accept it or not is your choice, yet it does nothing to change the answer's validity.

The fish being originally referred to in this thread, such as Bass and bluegill, have a metabolic change when water temperatures reach ~50*. The nutrients normally absorbed from the digestive tract that would go into flesh such as muscle is reduced and instead, nutrients to create high energy lipids (fats) are primarily absorbed. NOT for growth, but for winter survival. You also asked me to "Perhaps you can scientifically explain to me, exactly how it is...."When cold and the metabolism slows, they still eat, yet the feed is not digested, as suggested,, metabolized nor utilized the same. Yet they continue to tear it up and eat and pack it in ON TOP of undigested food?????????????".....I answered how the digestive portion changes, and how metabolized....as for the rest of the "scientific answer" on what goes undigested after "tearing up the feed"...? Since you appear to be an expert on analyzing BS, perhaps you can gather samples of FS to be analyzed as many scientists have done. Your studies will discover a large majority of consumed pellets simply pass through the fish undigested at all. Perhaps the repeated analysis will quell your scientific thirst to bust mythology.

It has also been observed personally, by me, and related here by others, that undigested, unhydrated pelleted feed consumed in cold water, HAS caused blockages in in the intestines of fish, which ended in death.

Last edited by Rainman; 12/14/14 01:04 PM.