Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations 3 fish feeding questions

I have a 1/2 acre pond, 10 feet deep, built in sept of 2006. It is now entirely full and I stocked it a month ago with, 155 Blue Gill / 25 Hybrid Blue Gill / 30 Channel Catfish / 100 Red Ear and 1000 fathead minnows.

1) I want to feed them, I bought a 50 lb. bag of farm pond fish food, on the label it reads floating catfish food, will bluegill and red ear also eat? If not, is there blue gill food?

2) How much should I feed them? 150 lbs per year, from March - October?

3) I've seen a guy you trained a fish by ringing a bell before he fed them, after awhile, if he rang the bell all the catfish would start swarming the surface even before he fed them. I don't have a bell, could I honk my horn on my truck before each time? Weird Question, I know. (Just wanted an opinion)

1 - the BG will eat it but they do make higher protien content fish pellets that will get you better growth rates on your BG.

2 - I would start with a 50 lb bag and only feed what they will eat in a 15 minute period. Buy more pellets as needed. Un eaten pellets will add to the nutrient load of your pond, also fresh pellets are much better than old ones so check the date codes too.

3 - Pounding a steel post in the ground next to your feeding area and bang on it as your feeding que. Our BG re-act positively to the sounds of just footsteps on our dock. Sound travels much better through solids than it does air.

great advice! much appreciated.

1 - Catfish food might also be to large for the BG, depending on respective sizes.

3 - I walk passed about 150 feet of shoreline to get to where I feed. Fish follow me along the way, cued by just the footsteps.

That is amazing fish can follow the sounds of footsteps, very cool. It will be fun when my children begin to fish in a few years.

I put some structure in the pond, including 6" and 8" PVC pipes, will the channels breed in these? If they do, I was told that when I stock Largemouth bass this fall, the bass will eat up all the baby channels, a guy told me they can wipe out a school of channels in seconds.

Hello P.L.,

I am going through the same phase in my new 2.5 acre pond located in NE Hamilton county. 1500 BG, 300 RES, 30 lbs. FHM. I have thought about writing a nearly identicle post for about a week. Where are you located in Indiana? Maybe we could get together and trade some experience. I have only a couple of years under my belt but I am an addict.

I bought and placed an AquaPro automatic feeder two weeks ago, set to feed twice a day 7:15AM and 6PM for one second each. I started at 4 secs. but have backed it down to the minimum because I have yet to see the first taker. I started with the larger sized catfish pellet but ended up replacing one week later with the farm fish mix from TSC (Tractor Supply). The pellets are about 1/4 the size.

Does anybody have an approximate time frame before the fish catch on? I hate seeing the uneaten pellets build up on the shore line but I guess I need to keep the faith. Anybody with additional advice here would be helping at least two Pond Boss faithful. Thank you in advance.

Hello Blaine-

I have a nearly identical situation you descibe here-2.5a pond, Aquapro 75, Tractor Supply food. Pond is ten years old, but never fed. Feeding now for 6 weeks. My fish are just beginning to feed now, and hang around the bay where the feeding occurs-and that means only a swirl or two {except for the grass carp, who picked it right up} with each feeding. I switched to Game Fish Chow about 10 days ago, hasn't made any difference-I think that slow metabolic rate plus fish not really in the habit equals long learning period. I don't know a reasonable time frame, but wouldn't dispair.....

When I started feeding last year, it took about two weeks for the CBG to catch on. I also started with once-a-day feedings until they got the hang of it. The Aquapro feeders will throw a lot of food, so I have always found 1-2 seconds to be more than enough...
The good news is that once they learn, they don't soon forget. I just got back from my pond where my father and I set up our feeders for the first time this year. I threw in a handful of feed that had fallen out of the bag, and the CBG swarmed it as if I had been feeding them all winter and spring -- needless to say, I'm a happy camper (though I wish I had gotten the feeders out a few weeks ago)...
Also had 5.5" in the rain gauge from the last 10 days. I'm seeing my pond at it's full level for the first time since we bought it almost 2 years ago -- very cool!

I'm in Gibson County, far southwest corner of the state. Hamilton is that near Indy?

I was also wondering how long it took the fish to react to feedings, good question.

Thanks Yolk,

The main reason that I switched to the smaller pellet is because my feeder fish are still fingerlings with the exception of approx 350 4" BG. I know, many of you consider those still fingerlings. This year in my pond... "them are HAWGS"!

With your pond being a mature 10 years old, do you think that the "teaching old dogs" rule can also apply to fish? Additionally, do you think that the large grass carp that were present delayed the BG sense of welcome? I have heard that a mob of CC can keep the BG at bay, which is part of the reason why I don't have any at this time.

Shorty,

This is the first time that I have heard what you wrote below about uneaten pellets adding nutrients.
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2 - I would start with a 50 lb bag and only feed what they will eat in a 15 minute period. Buy more pellets as needed. Un eaten pellets will add to the nutrient load of your pond, also fresh pellets are much better than old ones so check the date codes too.

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Every thing that I have heard has been contrary to this. If this is true then I am not as worried about an extended training period.

with mine being a smaller pond, it seems that will shorten the learning curve?

P.L.,

Hamilton Cnty. is on the North side of Indy. Actually I live a little North of Noblesville. Send me an email if you get up this way and I'll give you the grand tour.

I wish that I knew the answer to your question about "how long". I propose a race! Loser drives to see the feeding frenzy.

I'm in. You enjoy cold Bud Light?

Blaine,

Good thought on the grass carp, I don't know the answer. I hope to remove them in the near future, and have stocked tilapia this week to take their place and provide add'l forage. Maybe the tilapia with "show the way" to the BGs.

I'm a half hour north of Evansville. Gotta hit the road, have a good weekend.

Didn't I read on the forum or in the mag that a few feed-trained fish will teach the others? Could one visit the fish guy and pay for a small qty of feed-trained, introduce them to the feed-dumb, and expect the likelihood of mentoring?

B'ski yes wrt BG that will work. You can even train them just by feeding over time. It seems that the 2nd and 3rd generation of BG really pick up fast on what their predecessors do. But even feed trained fish from the hatchery will from time to time get off (or greatly reduce) eating feed. That is a good thing as it probably improves the diet and results in healthy fish.

Hungry fish eat pellets quicker than satiated fish. Small fingerlings stocked in a new pond usually have lots to eat, compared to a more mature population with a much higher total biomass of fish.

We've had lots of variations posted on how long it took fish to feed on pellets in a new pond; we don't even all have the same species start eating in the same order. "It all depends."

But hang in there and keep the faith; sooner or later they will get hungry and will start feeding.

I'm a Miller Lite in a bottle kind of guy so be ready for me, sounds like from what I've been reading... I'll be doing the driving. Unless of course I can find some "instructor" BG's before you. That's what makes this hobby so fun. Lot's of possibilities and styles. Send some pics of your pond sometime. I will as well if I can ever figure out how to do it.

I'm another Hoosier with a new 1/2 acre pond just north of Muncie. I have some HBG that I stocked in my pond before I found this site and read the negatives about them. It took them all of two days to start eating pellets. Now they go crazy over them. I hope the other fish in my pond will learn from example . I hand feed them using a hula hoop for a feeding ring. It helps keep the pellets in one place for a little while without the wind blowing them away. Right now I take a 14 oz can of pellets out to the pond and throw small handfuls into the ring and wait until those are gone before I throw another handful. Doing it this way it takes 20-30 minutes to go through the can-full. The pellets that do wash ashore get devoured by the FHM. They will come right up to the bank in schools and eat them.

We are also in Indiana--southeast of Muncie. One acre pond. I started by throwing small pellets along the bank, two weeks sound about right (other than that occasional hit). Put in an automatic feeder this year, and it didn't take them long as i originally knew where i was putting the dock and feeder and purposely fed close to that area. Right now my feeder is set for 7 am and 6 pm but are eating at 7 and 7:30 (right before the sun goes down AND they are eating like crazy). I have been going out there throwing a small amount by hand by dock. Some sneak up to get the food others are practically flipping out the water, but they are trained at this point--haven't tried the bell--interesting I sit on the dock and watch and they are eating strong and long (around 20 minutes). Have tried the small pellets and large ones...prefer the small ones (as like one of you said, smaller fish). BUT they eat both. As soon as my feeder is empty going to change time in evening feeding to later. We just love to watch the fish eat, so neat.

I fed my fish for the 1st time saturday, I banged a steel pole, and threw out about an ice cream bucket full of food (small pellets). I had a few minnows hit it and what looked to be a couple blue gill, hopefully, the activity will increase.