Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeding Bread

I have been feeding my fish a couple slices of bread in the evenings, And the bluegill love it. My question is .. is It good for them?

The bread does not provide your fish with any protein and not very much other nutrition for growth or good health. It is kind of like feeding your dog only bread.

A post script. Many fish, especially sunfishes, will readily eat bread but don't expect much growth from their eating bread. Bread will fill them up with carbohydrates.

Of course it should not hurt them, but if you are feeding for growth you need a good protein based fish food. It sounds like you are feeding bread for fun, just to see them.

This got me thinking though, if its not good for the fish what about us. hmm...

JM,

I think you misunderstood Bill. He didn't say it was not good for the fish. He said the bread by itself does not provide a complete protein rich diet. Same goes with the gamefish chow vs. Aquamax produced by purina. Gamefish chow is fine as long as the fish are getting something else as in fish forage and insects, however, by itself it is not a complete diet.

Bread is not bad for us either, but if we just lived on bread we would have nutritional problems.

........and ironically, Wonder Bread has gone bankrupt!

Yeah but Mrs. Baird's bread is still in business isn't it?

I guess it is what they are use to. If I toss in a hand full of fish food the water explodes with feeding, but I have put in bread before and the fish will not touch it.

Cecil, can you take that Gamefish chow statement further? I figured that just about any fish food that I buy that says 32% protien was OK. Now, you have me questioning.

Hey come on Cecil when I worked at the Navy Brig in San Diego we used to get lots of prisoners for the weekend. Their sentence 3 days bread and water all they could eat in 15 minutes and it never killed anyone!

Bob

Dave,

I called Purina once and they told me the gamefish chow was only a supplemental diet and not a complete diet. Aquaculturists use the Aquamax which is also made by Purina. One of the Aquamax diets is for carnivore fish like trout, yellow perch, and hybrid striped bass. I believe the protein level is in the lower 40's.

Thanks, Cecil. I'm re-thinking my feeding ideas. If I can't live on protien alone, why should fish? However, my fish eat stuff other than pellets to balance their nutrition so my feeding is only supplemental. I remember Lusk saying that, optimally, fish should not be fed over 4 or 5 out of 7 days per week. That said, I will still only buy balanced stuff in the future. Purina has gotten hard to get locally. Everyone has gone to cheaper feeds mills. Of course, they haven't changed the price I pay.

I am somewhat confused by the guys statement about "carnivore" food. Everything in the pond is a predator so it shouldn't hurt to feed the bluegills the good stuff. Just more $$$$$. I would love to have bluegill with wide shoulders.

Funny, Purina feed is easy to come by here. All I have to do is call the local feed mill and they order for me and call me when it is in. I use the Aquamax primarily for my trout, bluegills and yellow perch. I prefer even higher protein and low carbs for my bass. I will be getting that through Silver cup Nelson and Sons in the spring. I use their steelhead salmon feed for my bass.

As far as the "carnivore" comment it is labeled on the bag as such. The omniovore feed is for Talapia and catfish. More protein for your bluegills wouldn't hurt.

The other Aquamax diet is "Aquamax for Omivours". It is 32% protein. I would think that any general purpose animal feed store that handles Purina brand feeds should be able to order Aquamax fish food for you. Ask the store manager to look into the possibilities of getting the food to his store.

Dave,
For "large blue gills with broad shoulders" I would second the motion for Aquamax 500/600.
Our gills have been on this program for about a year now, and gills in the 9 inch class are common - largest 10 inches - 1 lb 2 oz on digital scale.

Pure coppernose genetics may help - Bob Waldrop of Tyler Fish Farm personally caught and transported wild brood stock from Florida, and hatches his own gills.

I once visted a pond where the owners had even the largemouth bass eating bread and dog food.

That is what they fed them.

I'm sure they were getting something else. Actually too much carbohydrates can actually hurt a fish. They don't digest it well and it can cause health problems like fatty livers especailly in bass, which is why I go to an even higher protein and less carbs for my bass. However I have hundreds of bass I feed daily in my .62 acre pond and needless to say the bluegills become scare.

I remember living in Bavaria as a kid when I was a military dependent. The local river in Bad Tolz has a river running through town called the Isar. The town had it's own pet brown trout that would come to bread thrown into the water.

There were bluegill in the pond also.

So I assume they were eating them too.