If you get a feeder, that will certainly help. 1.5" golden shiners (GSH) at this time of year is not unusual growth though. Adirondack Pond another forum member just posted a source for a $40 feeder... For GSH, just plain old koi food or other cheap feed will do them just fine. You'd be amazed at how few of those 250,000 survived though. Even with no fish predation, there are numerous species of predatory water bugs that will prey on fry. I have a forage fish only pond and watch predatory water bugs eat my fry all the time. Back swimmers, water boatman and water scorpions all examples of highly predacious water bugs. Even the FHM you stocked the day after the GSH would have eaten some of your GSH fry... GSH fry are TINY as you saw in the clear bag. A moderately sized adult FHM can easily feed on them. There often is little success in stocking the 250k fry into an established pond, but many have had great success in new ponds like your own. Get a feeder up and you'll be OK.