Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Fish Feeder Size & Feeder Specific Locations?

I'm looking to add a feeder or two to a new pond. I have a couple general questions I couldn't readily find on the forum. Any tips you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated.

1) What is the shelf life of commercial fish feed? Does commercial fish feed go bad, rot or get moldy if not dispensed within a few weeks of purchasing? I travel a lot for my job and was thinking about getting a larger capacity TH feeder (with solar) to 'load and forget' while away. I'm not sure if fish would notice fresh vs older pellets but wanted to ask.

2) Would it be best to have separate feeder to dispense YOY pellets in the shallows & large predator pellets in open areas of a pond to allow each to feed separately or is it more beneficial to have all the fish congregate together during feedings to allow the larger predator fish to take advantage and feed on the younger fish?

Thanks.

I won�t buy any feed older than 3 months of manufacturing. From what I understand that it looses potency..... I use the Texas hunter 70# feeder and it lasts about 3-4 weeks at the rate I feed.
Small fish don�t venture out to where I feed or they become feed, ideal would be to have feed in shallow for the babies and deeper for larger

I was surprised the difference high quality feed makes in how they responded to it versus junk quality. It�s worth the few bucks difference

Thanks Pat, so in your opinion, a 250 pound feeder would keep pellets too long? I'm just trying to see how often I will need to refill vs fill up and not have to refill.

Thanks.

That would depend on how much you are feeding and how often you are throwing feed. I�m conservative on feed I guess. If your feed is fresh you probably would be fine. Or don�t fill it all the way up. You have to determine what you are trying to achieve and go from there

One thing to consider is how heavy the feeders are. If you have to transport them by hand over rough terrain, as I did in a few cases, favor the smaller 70 lb ones.

Also, think about transport of the feed bags. To the extent possible, you want a place that is easily accessible & does not involve too much hauling by hand.

I don't favor the 250 lb feeders because if something goes wrong, you lose so much feed. Heavy winds & downpours can sometimes get inside even the best feeders, and you really don't want to lose 250 lb worth to rot & fungus. Curious animals & people can sometimes open the feeder up, too, and don't lock it behind them.

Optimal feeds have a date of mfg on the bag, and have a typical "use by" date of 12 months. The nutrient pack in the food slowly starts to lose potency just like vitamins and meds. BUT that doesn't mean that it goes bad at the flip of a switch. I have fed Optimal feed that was kept in an outbuilding 2 years later and the fish didn't seem to care one bit.

Feed keeps best if it's kept cool and dry, especially the dry part. You don't want to feed damp or moldy feed. When talking with the guys at Optimal, they put the "12 month" information out thinking about feed stored in a metal building in Texas....

I have had Optimal shipped to me and FedEx left the boxes outside the building NOT in protective plastic bags and we had a 2" rain event. The bags inside the boxes were fine, as was the food. The boxes were a soggy mess.

If you want to mix Bass and Bluegill feed, get the 125# capacity feeder. You can mix both bags together in the feeder even if you have some feed still in the feeder.