I absolutely believe that hand feeding my fish every day has provided me with much insight as to how and what a fish wants to eat. I still feel that if a particular situation would be best suited to a mechanical feeder, than they are invaluable. But I also think that a great many new pondowners who rush out and purchase feeders because they're simply on the "list", may be missing out.
As an example, I hand feed four ponds everyday. I begin with the HBG pond, and will throw out some feed and gage the fish's response, as to how much I give them. Once I have food on the water, I walk to the other ponds and do the same thing. When I have fed all four, I walk back and check out the HBG pond again. If I still have feed floating on the surface, I'm done. if it's gone, and it usually is, I throw more out and begin the process all over again.
Hand feeding and observation has taught me that my fish will usually feed better with a short interval between two separate feedings, rather than all the feed being thrown at one time. I think it stimulates a competitive response among the fish, which doesn't occur when there's an abundance of feed floating everywhere.
