Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often

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Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often #232974 08/31/10 03:07 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	Ok I finally was able to get a feeder up so we can now see if this will help my fish grow. It is a 6.5 gallon directional bucket feeder. My question is how much food should I feed each time and how often should I feed? I think my feeder allows me to feed up to 6 times a day. I am currently using Game Fish Chow and plan to switch to Aquamax when it is gone or start with it next spring. I stocked 100 CC back in December and it is full of GSF. Since I am only there 2-3 times a month I want to make sure I get this set to where I need it. Plus does anyone know how many pounds of feed this can hold or how often I will have to fill it up?

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #232976 08/31/10 03:12 PM
Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 4,795 Likes: 14 Colorado O Omaha Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Omaha Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker O Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 4,795 Likes: 14 Colorado	Originally Posted By: MRHELLO Plus does anyone know how much feed this can hold? I'm guessing it holds 6.5 gallons. Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine NEFGA

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Omaha #232977 08/31/10 03:22 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	Originally Posted By: Omaha Originally Posted By: MRHELLO Plus does anyone know how much feed this can hold? I'm guessing it holds 6.5 gallons. I meant in pounds. But that�s funny.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #232978 08/31/10 03:41 PM
Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 4,795 Likes: 14 Colorado O Omaha Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Omaha Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker O Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 4,795 Likes: 14 Colorado	I'm here for a laugh man. I would estimate it would be around 40 pounds, give or take, depending on what feed you go with and it's density. Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine NEFGA

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Omaha #233008 08/31/10 07:12 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	It was funny. I hope some experts on here can help me out as I am new to the whole feeding concept. Thanks

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233016 08/31/10 07:31 PM
Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana	Start off by feeding once or twice a day, and only the amount that they clean up in 15 to 20 minutes. Start out by feeding very little food because I'll bet they forgot what pellet food is. I'd set the feeder on the shortest feed time you can in the beginning. www.hoosierpondpros.com http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4 3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often esshup #233055 09/01/10 08:04 AM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	How long do you think it will take for them to get used to the feed and be waiting for it to go off. My fathers friend feeds his fish and he says he can here them busting the water from his house. We also had some pretty good rain last night and I would like to go check and make sure it is still up due to the wind. I probably will not make it until next week but we will see.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233141 09/01/10 08:03 PM
Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana	It could take a week, it could take a couple of months. This is where "it depends" really comes into play. www.hoosierpondpros.com http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4 3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often esshup #233171 09/02/10 08:24 AM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	I knew someone was going to tell me that. LOL I hope they catch on quick as I am feeding at 7:30 AM and 7:30 PM. Do these times seem good or should I consider changing them? Well the next time I am out there I will check the feeder to see how much food has been dispensed. I may even hand feed a little to see if I can get the fish back up. Another idea was to throw a line with a piece of worm as well and see if I can catch one and check to see if their bellies are bulging. I can't wait to see what is going on, and I guess I probably have until early November to feed as I do not want to leave my feeder up when it starts to ice up.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233172 09/02/10 08:31 AM
Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana	Keep an eye on the time. You don't want to be feeding when it's dark outside unless you are planning on only feeding CC. www.hoosierpondpros.com http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4 3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often esshup #233197 09/02/10 10:35 AM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	I figure I would change it as it starts to get dark sooner. I was just thinking it may be better to feed when it is not so hot out. I may actually set a time after dark to feed my CC since I need to get them to grow so I can start taking them out to eat. Any thoughts on time for them, or do they pretty much feed all day? I wish they would eat some of those darn GSF I have in the. I saw a school of fry about 1//4 long and would think something would eat them, or they would be eaten by larger GSF. Like I said if I stay with cheaper catfish food or bulk food I may feed more often and get the cats up to size, but to put some weight on my BG I may need to switch to Aquamax. I just hate to spend all that money and have the CC Hogs eating it all.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233205 09/02/10 11:08 AM
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 7,099 Likes: 23 St Louis, MO area R Rainman Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Rainman Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker R Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 7,099 Likes: 23 St Louis, MO area	Cheaper feed uses cheaper protein that is less digestible. Sawdust has protein but won't make a fish grow! It would be similar to swallowing water inside a glass marble.....It might be 95% water....and still 100% useless as a source of water....

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Rainman #233207 09/02/10 11:24 AM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	I did not plan to use anything cheaper than Game Fish Chow, but I thought I read on another post that for CC it may not make much difference to feed them Catfish food, or a high end food. I am guessing this is because they will eat about anything. Or it could be completely wrong.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233209 09/02/10 12:04 PM
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 7,099 Likes: 23 St Louis, MO area R Rainman Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Rainman Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker R Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 7,099 Likes: 23 St Louis, MO area	I based my comments on what your stated goal was...growth. The lower priced feeds have usable nutrients and will by definition produce growth. The higher quality feeds are not priced based on Name Recognition or Reputation. They are more expensive due to using more expensive, highly digestible ingiedients. IMO "cheap" feeds can cause less growth by getting fish to fill up on food they can't utilize as well as they would by eating naturally available foods. If "cheap" feed takes 10 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of flesh and a "better" feed takes 2 pounds of feed to produce a pound of flesh, it is simple math to realize the "cheap" feed actually cost you 5 times as much for that pound of flesh. Then it comes down to whether or not the "better" feed is 5 times the final price of the "cheap" feed if you want to campare apples to apples. Additionally, Higher digestion of feed means less waste to pollute the water. This allows more pounds of fish that can be produced in the same amout of water. Last edited by Rainman; 09/02/10 12:11 PM.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Rainman #233235 09/02/10 02:32 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	Originally Posted By: Rainman I based my comments on what your stated goal was...growth. The lower priced feeds have usable nutrients and will by definition produce growth. The higher quality feeds are not priced based on Name Recognition or Reputation. They are more expensive due to using more expensive, highly digestible ingredients. IMO "cheap" feeds can cause less growth by getting fish to fill up on food they can't utilize as well as they would by eating naturally available foods. If "cheap" feed takes 10 pounds of feed to produce 1 pound of flesh and a "better" feed takes 2 pounds of feed to produce a pound of flesh, it is simple math to realize the "cheap" feed actually cost you 5 times as much for that pound of flesh. Then it comes down to whether or not the "better" feed is 5 times the final price of the "cheap" feed if you want to compare apples to apples. Additionally, higher digestion of feed means less waste to pollute the water. This allows more pounds of fish that can be produced in the same amount of water. So when you say 10 to 1 for cheap food and 2 to 1 for better food are these just for examples or are they true numbers? Plus I was unaware of a conversion of 2 to 1 but that would be some nice growth. Since I just started using Game Fish Chow and will probably change to Aquamax what ratios do you think I should expect from each of them? Plus since most of my fish a small say less than 5 inches what size of Aquamax should I consider getting, would it be the 400 or 500 or am I completely off mark here? Thanks

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233626 09/06/10 05:06 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	Feeder has been up for a week now and the BG have already taken to it. I went out this morning and made it just in time to catch the feeder going off and they were boiling the water. I had to add another second to the feeding as they ate all of what it spit out. I also caught about 3 of my HBG I stocked back in December that apparantly did not get eaten by my GSF. There bellies looked like they were about to pop.

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #233947 09/09/10 11:38 AM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 156 texas M Magnolia Rick Lunker
Magnolia Rick Lunker M Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 156 texas	I have a question on feed pond fish. I too feed twice aday and they are a the bank both time waiting. But I also see small minnow and fingerling everywhere. Look like my fish are eating the feed and not so much on the forage fish. This can't be good on keep a good ratio on fish in the pond. Do I cut back on the feeding to get them work on the forage fish? Just working my pond for Grandkids GET THE NET PAWPAW

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Magnolia Rick #233969 09/09/10 01:59 PM
Joined: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,505 Likes: 3 North Central WV Todd3138 Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Todd3138 Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker Joined: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,505 Likes: 3 North Central WV	Rick, remember that your fish are going to grow a lot more on feed than on forage fish - the growth return on quality food is way higher than natural forage (10 lbs. forage fish to add 1 lb. to your predator versus more close to a 2 lb. to 1 lb. growth with feed, I think). Depending on your goal (I seem to recall you didn't want anything that was so big it would be too much for your grandkids - awesome goal! - to handle without too much trouble), I think that would drive your management plan to some extent here. It seems like there may well be several options for you to develop here depending on what you want to do. (sorry for the semi-hijack here!) Todd La Neve Click Here to Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine 1.5 & .5 ac ponds - LMB, BG, RES, YP, GC, HSB

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Todd3138 #233975 09/09/10 02:13 PM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 156 texas M Magnolia Rick Lunker
Magnolia Rick Lunker M Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 156 texas	Right now the gills are growing like weed ( bass have started hitting the feed too). The grandkid love to come feed the fish. LOl Ya I want the 10" gills and the 14 to 16 bass to be at the top of my fish size. What I"ve been doing and this maybe part of my answer to my own question. I have been trapping the small fingerling and using them for the kids to fish with. Fish still getting the forage fish, I can kind control the fish numbers in my pond and kids got bait to fish with. Thank for the input Todd Just working my pond for Grandkids GET THE NET PAWPAW

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Magnolia Rick #234015 09/09/10 08:00 PM
Joined: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,505 Likes: 3 North Central WV Todd3138 Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Todd3138 Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker Joined: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,505 Likes: 3 North Central WV	Rick, that's awesome that the LMB have started hitting the feed. I can see some cruising below my BG while they eat, but have yet to see a LMB take any of the pellets. I suspect most of the forage fish are going to get eaten, and I certainly wouldn't think you'd want to be completely rid of them, so just keep an eye on things. One thing I've picked up here is that more often than not, it's a better practice to take little steps, then sit back and observe before you do anything else. The changes can sometimes take a little while. So I guess my point is that you have a pretty good mix of forage and feed, but it also sounds like you have a pretty good concept going right now with using the smaller fish you're pulling out as bait. Give that approach some time and see what it does - besides, that sounds like a great way to spend time with the grandbabies! Todd La Neve Click Here to Subscribe to Pond Boss Magazine 1.5 & .5 ac ponds - LMB, BG, RES, YP, GC, HSB

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Todd3138 #234026 09/09/10 08:15 PM
Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana	Rick: I know you're down South. I don't know what your water temps are like in the winter. Usually the pellet feeding for warm water fish stop once water temps hit 60�F. If yours gets that cool, they will switch over to the forage fish for the time that you are not feeding pellets. Warm water fish can't digest the pellets as easily as live bait, and that's not a problem when their metabolism is high (warmer water). So, if your water gets that cool or cooler, having a bunch of forage fish is a good thing! www.hoosierpondpros.com http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4 3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often esshup #234071 09/10/10 08:37 AM
Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 156 texas M Magnolia Rick Lunker
Magnolia Rick Lunker M Joined: Feb 2010 Posts: 156 texas	Thank for the info. I'm doing more looking and writting down in my log then any thing. I added a few fingerling to a hook last night. Didn't take the bass and the gills to jerk the hook. So I agree everything will work out in due time. Now I guess I'll start working on the pond weed. Will it keeps me out of the bars anyway. Just working my pond for Grandkids GET THE NET PAWPAW

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often Magnolia Rick #234270 09/11/10 12:42 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	So the best time to stop feeding your fish is around 60 degrees? I was wondering when to stop since we have winters with much ice around here, then again you never know what happens in Oklahoma. I am going tomorrow to adjust my time as I think I may be feeding too much right now, and my feeder may run out of food before I have a chance to fill it each time. I am feeding for 5 seconds at 7:30 AM, 5 seconds 7:30 PM and 2 seconds at Midnight (this is for the CC). Are these good times or should I change them? Any ideas?

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often MRHELLO #234311 09/11/10 08:10 PM
Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
esshup Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker Joined: Jan 2009 Posts: 28,537 Likes: 843 Grovertown, Indiana	Originally Posted By: MRHELLO I am feeding for 5 seconds at 7:30 AM, 5 seconds 7:30 PM and 2 seconds at Midnight (this is for the CC). Are these good times or should I change them? Any ideas? What are the fish telling you? Are they eating all the food that is dispensed? Are they eating one feeding more than the others? www.hoosierpondpros.com http://www.pondboss.com/subscribe.asp?c=4 3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).

Re: Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often esshup #234381 09/12/10 03:11 PM
Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA M MRHELLO OP Lunker
OP MRHELLO Lunker M Joined: May 2010 Posts: 1,840 N.E. OKLAHOMA	It seems like common since that you would feed until they stop either for the day or for the year. I guess my concern or question is, can you feed too much, or is there a time when you do not get any more benefit for you buck?