anathropic, a few thoughts. First, if they're not feeding well yet, I'd probably cut the feeder back to 1-2 seconds. No reason to throw the food if they're not eating it yet. The rising water may also be slowing them down. All fish are different, but normally when water falls, they hunker down, when it rises, they scatter. Since your pond is still filling, they still may just be cruising around.
Like Tony, I like a later feeding also. As the water warms, your CNBG should become more active and feed better. My feeders earliest throw right now is 10 am, and every 3 hours after that.
Finally, we're heading into winter, and CNBG just don't always feed as hardily or regularly as when the water's warmer.
IMHO, you're not overreacting, you're just excited about your fish. We all get that way whether we say it or not.
Hope this helps.
Agree 100%, and I often recommend hand feeding, same place, same time daily [towards low light] a few tosses, hunker down low profile, and watch. Consider hand feeding until enough fish are feeding that can clean up a 1 second throw from feeder in 10 min or less. Until that happens, you're only wasting food and pumping nutrients into the pond which, as we all know, can contribute to water quality related issues down the line.
My BG feeding slows significantly in the 60s, and shuts off in the mid 50s altogether. Water temps will help explain the slower take to the food.
Gape capability of your fish is also a variable - a 2-3" BG is only able to peck at an AM 500 or Optimal pellet. Depending on the size, your fish may be too small to handle the pellet. I think the standard method to determine appropriate pellet size is 1/4 measurement of gape.
Hope some of this helps - I'd shut down the feeder and save yourself some money and hand feed the same time daily, towards evening, until your fish are cleaning up all the pellets you throw.
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