Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations over feeding??

Hello again,

My feeding has been good-every night around 7 p.m. the fish are eating what I throw out in about 15 minutes. This morning I went out and threw a couple of handfuls just for fun and they started feeding immediately, Question is.....even though they eat it up and it is not going to waste ont he shoreline-can you overfead and not get the benfits-I guess what I am asking is am I still going to get any benefit feeding 2x a day compared to one!

There are two schools of thought here:

1.) Your fish have come out of winter basically in a fasting state, and with below normal water temps have been feeding at up until now at below optimum levels. They are famished and need to build back up their reserves they have been using up. If they will eat it let them eat what they want twice a day.

But conversely:

2.) Your water is only in the low 50's and they should get all they need at one heavy feeding once a day. Just like other animals they will eat more than they need. If we are speaking of bass, bluegill, yellow perch vs. trout.


Personally I am only feeding my fish heavily once a day and do so through out the year with normal growth rates. It reduces nutrients in the water and allows my feed to go twice as far. However, keep in mind these are ponds that have primarily adult fish. If I have for instance small 2 to 4 inch bluegills in a cage I will feed up to 3 X a day.

I'm looking forward to what the others here say. They may disagree totally. I hope they keep in mind your water temps and don't try and compare lower latitudes with our northern latitude.

Cecil,

I have adult perch that have been in pond for 2-3 years, along with some catfish (walleye but I know they dont eat pellets) I also have new bass and HBG from Laggis this year. Pellet trained...
Thanks

Dave,

You could try feeding twice a day and if one of the feedings is lack luster, (I suspect it will be) then go back to once a day until the water warms up and metabolism is faster.