Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding question about feeding and fertilizing

Welcome NPG. Nice website; it sounds like my daughter's room.

I can tackle some of your questions.

Not seeing any bream: 1000 BG is a highly recommended stocking number, but not very many fish compared with what you will have after they spawn and the pond is full of fish. If the pond is full of "bugs, frogs, and beetles" there should be plenty for those BG to eat, so I suspect they're just chowing down where you can't see them. Since the FH are visibly doing OK, that is a good sign wrt your water quality in my mind.

How big were your BG stockers? Unless they were tiny, you should get a spawn out of them this year, and then you will have beau coups little BG to observe.

Algae or Mud: Collect a sample and age it in a jar. Mud won't change over time, the algae will change (and reduce in volume, IIRC) after it dies.

I would not worry about the algae too much, it's one of the first things that shows up and grows in a new pond. If you can post a good picture of it, someone will likely be able to identify it and give a more definitive answer.

Should you start feeding? Your new BG may not have much interest in pelleted feed if there's plenty of other stuff for them to eat. If you want you can try putting a little feed in regularly to see when they start eating it, then increase the amount fed within recommended limits.

Fertilizing? I will leave that for Southern pondmeisters and pros experienced with this subject.