Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Channel cat feeding

I’m trying to pellet train newly stocked cc does anyone have any tips on how to get them to eat ? I throw out a couple handlefulls daily and I see a few being eatin but not much

My CC 3-6" went into hiding for 7 months after I stocked them. I figured they all died and sunk...until one day they showed up and have been fixtures ever since.

Take home message, give them a few months.

Try a slow sinking feed to get them started on feed.

You need to feed them at the same place and at the same time of day until they figure out what feed is. Build some kind of floating hoop or ring and secure it in place. When feeding, throw the food inside the floating ring, it keeps the feed concentrated longer and helps them find it sooner.

I had some in my small pond with res and fhm the cc would feed well on pellets. When they got to about 10" I moved about 60 to my 3/4 acre pond they have been in it for about 7 months and still no sign of them at the feeding station. Is this normal?

Bingo. Same here. I can remember when we first started seeing 9" or so long CC sneaking up towards the edge of the pond and stealing a pellet that had sunk then disappearing. My first stocked CC were extremely shy the first year. Did not see them for a long time after stocking.

You could get some feed to the bottom in a couple feet of water. They sell sinking catfish food but not many places carry it (one local coop in our area does). You could also pre-soak some floating feed so it would sink or do as was previously said throw it in a feed ring to contain it and it will sink after several minutes.

They will find it. You might not see them but they will find it. If you see muddy water riled up where you put the sinking feed something is eating it. Likely the CC. The CC will be cruising the bottom looking for something to eat and when one fish finds the food the others in reasonable proximity can sense the feeding and will show up.

Not sure ,I stocked 40 8-10 inches in a 1/4 acre and they all seem to have disappeared,I check daily and I’m going to say they are still there just hiding as well

Same thing happened to me last year. I stocked about 55 4-8" CC in a new 1/4 acre March of '17. I didn't see them again until the first week of June, when most of them showed up for feed. By then they were 7-11". My guess is they had been feeding on the mass of crawdads in the pond.

I guess time will tell ,it looks like they take some time to get used to it ,hopefully by next year they’ll be big enough to taste test a couple