Originally Posted By: basslover
But I kept coming back to "what is one day comes where the feeder stops, what will happen then?" Be it a mechanical failure, a theft, no more feed available, etc. What then? I felt for us that artificial feeding on a regular basis wasn't right. It would likely lead to an unnatural and unsustainable balance within the pond.

Now, we do enjoy hand tossing pellets (and insects!) from time to time. But our goal was a balanced pond that didn't require human intervention to maintain.


Many people get the idea that feeding fish is an all or nothing plan. They seem to forget or rather not realize that you can supplementally feed the fish. That means to throw some food every day, but not enough that the fish live strictly on the feed and not any natural food. That way the fish will grow faster in the pond, but still will rely on the natural forage in the pond. Feeding a little every day, at the same time, in the same place will benefit the fish in the pond, but not to the point where you create couch potato fish. It also can be used as a tool to visually see fish that you normally wouldn't see.

A while ago Bob wrote about stocking a pond with adult bass that (I believe) were not feed trained, and the fish declined in weight. The fish were conditioned to knowing where the best place in their "home" pond was to catch food and couldn't learn it in the new pond.

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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).