Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Feeding Question

New to the board and I have read a ton all ready. Great site with lots of great info but I still have a few questions. I have an established 2 1/2acre pond with as far as I can tell a lot of small skinny LMB, 4-6" skinny BG and supposedly a few Georgia Giants. From what I understand I need to harvest the LMB and feed the BG. The only feed I can purchase locally is CF food (sinking and floating). Will this work on the BG and if so should I use the floating or sinking and how much/often should I feed. A well was added to the pond to maintain the level now I would like to manage the fish population. Looking forward to getting the LMB and BG healthier. Thanks in advance

Welcome aboard!

I feed the inexpensive floating catfish food. Most here prefer Purina Aquamax. I believe you'll want to feed what the fish can eat in about 15 minutes, once or twice a day. Others will gladly offer advice that are much more knowledgable than me.

As for the fish conditions and what to manage for, you'll want to get a better sampling of fish, state your goals, water conditions, etc. Pictures always help as well.

Hi Bassng3,

If your water is gin clear, judicious application of fertilizer can help your food chain from the bottom up. It makes microscopic critters grow, feeding larger and larger critters.

If your water is slightly yellowish or greenish, fertilizing probably isn't wise. In that case, if you aren't feeding, doing so will surely help the BG grow. As you indicate, if you have many skinny LMB, removing a few dozen 14" and smaller ones will make the rest healthier. You could see results in the BG in a month or 2, the LMB by winter I'm guessing.

Water is slightly stained my guess 3ft visibility.

I feed Purina Game fish chow..I feed 6 times a day, one second
each feeding..the fish clean it up in 5-10 minutes..the short feedings keeps the feed from blowing to the shore most of the time and CNB have small stomach and can only eat a little at a time..I back off if they slow their feeding down..somewhere on this website I think someone recommended no more that 5-6lbs of feed/day per acre of pond...