highflyer and Augie,
I think I understand why the pellet feeding could cause problems in a tiny pond.
I don't understand why the aerator is probably a detrimental item?
(I have followed snrub's micro-pond posts. He had great success growing out RES and HSB last year in a 0.1 acre pond with aeration.)
Nor do I. My assumption is that a bottom diffuser, not a surface agitator, is what others are referring to. "If" a quality fish food is used correctly, of course you should feed them. In any group of fish there are jumpers that are more aggressive, and grow faster than the majority of the fish stocked. Those are the fish you want to target so, quality food, decreased throw times, and chasing the BG's gape works very well. Or at least it has here over the last 7-8 years, but I would be interested in hearing other's personal long term experiences as well.
When I reference "chasing the gape", I mean don't feed 10" BG smaller pellets in bulk. The 15 minute rule for feeding fish doesn't apply here. You're only wanting to feed a small percentage of the fish. Feeding a limited number of larger fish food pellets to the most aggressive BG is not much different than Darwin's theory.
Cody Note: "chasing the gape" noted above also applies to feeding fish too large of a pellet to small fish. Yes eventually the large pellet will soften and small fish pick it apart, but if you listen to the expert fish food people they will tell you that pellets soaking in water leaches out a lot of the important soluble materials before the pellet can be pulled apart, thus making the pellet less nutritious. So one should choose a pellet that is the appropriate size for the fish you mainly intend to feed. Small pellets for small gape fish and large pellets for larger gape fish - "chasing the gape".
