I just stocked three to seven inch CC and am wondering about how long it usually takes them to start feeding on pellets
Small CC are very secretive, unlike when they get older and will become almost as pets coming in for feed.
I did not see mine for quite a few months. Then I got to noticing if I was very quiet and stayed in one spot without moving I could see a small one dart into the shallow water and snatch a pellet as it was sinking, but not going for the surface for it.
As they get older and less afraid of being eaten they will become more bold, but when they are young and small they avoid the surface and avoid being seen.
One thing I found way back when was that if I mixed some sinking catfish feed (available at my local farm COOP) they would get a lot more aggressive at feeding time. Once they reach some size, then it is no problem as they will learn to come to the surface for the floating feed. Like mobile vacuum cleaners for feed on the surface.
So for the first year I did not see much of my fingerling CC. In my ponds there is structure where they can reproduce and early on my LMB did not do particularly good at recruitment. Subsequently I have had CC recruitment annually up until maybe the last year or two. So now I have tons of CC and if I drive around and feed will be boiling the water with CC feeding. I also have an automatic feeder the same.
They get about a foot long, you will start seeing them lots if hand feeding.
