I was wondering if there is any benefit in feeding bluegill multiple times a day vs one or two feedings? Right now, I've got a 2 acre pond, with two feeders going off twice a day for 12 seconds and I just decided to add a third feed time in the middle of the day for 3 seconds. I guess I can have up to 6 or so different feed times and was wondering if I should use those? I thought that multiple feedings would just give predators more chances to grab the fish but frankly the blue heron seem to just walk around the shallow spots of the lake even when the feeders have gone off. Currently there are no bass in the pond but they will be added this spring.
Second question: Is it possible that some of the first bluegill that I put in have spawned and now their offspring are already large enough to eat the fish pellets? Around 2 weeks ago when I refilled the feeders, I noticed that it seemed like the number of fish in the pond increased exponentially. Suddenly it didn't matter how much food I tossed out, it was consumed at a pretty fast rate. My first stocking was only 5 months ago. With that said, there is no aeration system in this pond, if the fish are consuming all of the food with in 5-6 minutes, should I just keep feeding more? I'm feeding aquamax 500.
Thanks,
David
Even without knowing how many BG you stocked 48 seconds of food a day seems like a lot
I saw something similar, didn’t matter how much I fed it seemed as though the fish would clean it up
In under 30 seconds. With that, a fish can only consume so many pellets in X amount of time.
Instead of feeding for 12 seconds try feeding for 4 seconds 3x - 5 minutes apart. Example: 7:30 / 7:35 / 7:40
That should more evenly distribute the food to more fish.
Also as stated above, I tried feeding my fish for a few seconds mid day, the first year they didn’t take to it, now in year 2 I can set the feeder off or hand throw food at any time of day and they will boil the water within a few seconds.
I say don’t over do it this early on, it can start leading to water quality issues if it’s not all getting consumed.
I’m also not sure of the correct feeding amount, it should roughly equal X amount of food per Y amount of fish per day. Something like 2-3# per acre per day if stocked correctly.
They say feed all your fish will consume in 10 minutes, like you, I could probably throw a 50# of food in and it would seem to be gone in under 10 minutes.
Experiment a little, fish food is just a supplement and not a fish’s primary source of nutrition.
