Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding they quit eating

1/2 acre pond stocked in june this year..
50 chanel cats, 50 blue gill, 3 hybred stripped bass, and a pound of minnows.

sever drought conditions in north Texas, still have about 8 feet of water.

Have seen 1 comorant bird in the tank, and a few gray heerings a stealing my fish.

100+ degree weather broke about 3 weeks ago and got a little rain

OK...The cats have been acting like pigs all summer, they would come up anywhere to eat.
Never saw a blue gill after they were stocked. Same for the bass. The minnows have multiplied greatly.

Question - since the weather broke, got a little rain, and the unwelcome birds have visited me, the cats have stopped eating. I mean STOPPED. occasionally I will get a "swirl" of water around the feed, but no feeding that I can see. Is this normal?, did the birds wipe me out?

I have stopped feeding them every day and cut it back to once a week.

thanks virgil

I fed last weekend (Bowie) and only 2 cats showed up. I still toss in feed when I go there. I doubt that the birds wiped you out.


BTW, you should have put in about 500 BG, not 50. That might be the problem.

50 BG should have a lot to eat in a 1/2 acre; 3 HSB would have even more with a healthy minnow population. So it's not surprising to me if only the CC showed up to be fed.

Are you planning on adding any more predators or other fish, say next Spring? Even though 50 BG is a very low number, next year they'll probably produce a huge spawn of babies.

500 BG may be a little heavy without LMB. Maybe 250? But, if the HSB are small, the BG should make up for the low stocking #s next spring.

but again... everything but the minnows have stoped eating... is this normal? 3 weeks of not eating at all.

the cats used to boil the water, they would follow me anywhere around the tank, almost like a pet. (they will tast good on the supper plate next summer if they are still there.)

I believe the cats will stop surface feeding before BG. Dont know where Parker Co.is. What is the surface temp?

BM, Parker County is about 25 or so miles West of Fort Worth. You are right about the BG numbers. I missed the fact that he wasn't going to put in bass.

Virgil, there is a good chance that you wouldn't see 3 hybrids and they could have accounted for a bunch of the 50 BG. I wouldn't worry about the cats not feeding. The water is getting colder and their metabolism is slowing down. My cats are between 2 and 8 pounds and they have been, like yours, real pigs. They have quit. If we get another pretty warm spell, they might start up again.

Mine do, too.

thanks for the answers guys.

just damed up the next gully over. another 1/2 acre tank about 20 feet deep. If it will ever rain.. Im thinking a blue gill tank. it probably aint big enough for some real bass.

Yeah, it might work. Just don't put very many in and be prepared to cull.

ok, I could not stand it any longer... where did my fish go?
I went fishin for the first time since I stocked the tank about 8 months ago.
a piece of cheese on a hook got me a 16 inch whisker kitty in about 30 seconds.

16 inches in a few months. I am pleased. they were all fingerlings when i put them in there.

I put the pole up, got a hand full of deer corn and threw it in there. they are apparantly feeding on the bottom, cause there is no action on the top.