Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding rehabbed pond/new cats/ how long before take feed

I stocked 75 catfish a week ago, ranging from 3-10". I have not seen any coming up to take the feed. I would guess the water temp is around 60-65. Try and feed same time same place. There are tons of tadpoles,fh,bg fry.

I have read that it takes a little while for them to adapt to their new environment. Typically, how long before they will start hitting the pellets? Am I wasting my time and money with all the other food sources this fall?
Thanks

Try walking around the pond while tossing feed. After a while they will come to you.

We've had high 60's to low 70's for daytime highs and low 40's at night. The water in the pond has really cooled down in the past week, and the catfish in my pond have really, really reduced their feeding. In fact, I didn't see any feeding yesterday while I did see some feeding on Friday. They are much more active in 70-80 degree water than cooler water.

I've been feeding every evening from the dock for 2 years now (except during the colder months of course). Last summer each time I fed, there might only be 1 or 2 CC that I could see feeding. The BG and HBG have been much more aggressive and consistent. Finally, this summer the CC have begun showing up in larger numbers - maybe a dozen or so - each time I feed. What I don't know is how many have been feeding below the surface outa sight. I don't mean to discourage you 'cause I think my experience is not typical. I think it is just an example how variable their response to feeding can be from pond to pond.

It is my belief that they will feed on sinking pellets faster than the floating. Problem is, it is hard to tell what the proper amount to feed with sinking pellets.

I say this because had already been feeding BG for several months before putting the fingerling CC in the pond. When I would feed the BG using about half and half sinking and floating pellets, if I would sit still long enough as the smaller BG were pecking of the sinking pellets in shallow water, the fingerling CC would dart in, steal a pellet, and away they would go. I would only see one or two briefly, but I am satisfied they were feeding on the pellets that were further out that I could not see. I could only watch the pellets that I threw in about a foot deep water.

So I have always tried to feed at least a portion of sinking pellets mixed in with the floating. I'm feeding probably a quarter sinking right now. I figure there are fish that will eat the sinking that might never come to the surface to compete for the floating. Hopefully a few of my RES are eating some of the sinking, but have no way of knowing.

On the other hand, by feeding some sinking food like I do, maybe I have never encouraged the CC to come to the surface. So that could be why I don't see CC feeding at the surface. With my voracious BG, the CC would have to be pretty aggressive. I'm only feeding about 2.5# of feed per acre per day (at the peak, less sometimes if they are not eating aggressively), so not much worry that they are not cleaning it up. I think they would eat two or three times that if I would feed it to them. If a person were doing pretty well full feed, not knowing how much of the sinking was getting cleaned up might be a problem.