Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations How much Feed is too much?

When I was growing up in the country I raised Capons (Casturated Roosters). The same family whooped us every year at the county fair...so like a good country boy, I snuck out to the mans chicken coop and spied on his operation. He had a timer on his feeder and everytime it went off the feeder shook. The Capons came running and ate every time. His capons were at least double the size of everyone elses.

Would this work in a fish scenerio? What negative effects could this have on a fish population?

THX

The more you feed the more the fish poop, and this can lead to water quality issues...

We normally do feed the fish. But Travis does bring up an interesting point about over feeding.

I raise a fish, (pacu) where using that method might work, but for most, probably not. The chickens are few, in a controlled environment, while the fish are many in a wild(er) environment.

In cases where the environment is strictly controlled, fish that are feed to their maximum capacity, reach their maximum size faster, but probably won't exceed their genetically disposed size.

This is not to imply you won't be able to grow bigger fish than those jerks at the county fair.

This is weird when you think of it, some animals can reach unbelievable sizes, weight really, while other can not?

Why can't a large mouth bass reach 50 pounds? What keeps a BG from gaining 2 pounds in middle age? Many of us continue to grow well into old age, why not them?

We're mammals and they're not... Warm blooded animals and cold blooded animals have very different evolutionary foundations.

You are mostly correct, I was sort of joking, but in truth there are probably other influences involved. I think I just saw a world record bass, it was fat. Animals that store fat are likely to be the overweight ones, warm or cold blood.

When I over fed my pacu they got fat, they had shoulders and jowls. It was gross when they were cleaned, the fat was , well fat. But I wish I had tried frying something in it.