Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeder Finally Up - How Much and How Often

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?

I'm guessing it holds 6.5 gallons.

I meant in pounds.

But that’s funny.

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.

It was funny.

I hope some experts on here can help me out as I am new to the whole feeding concept.

Thanks

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.

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.

It could take a week, it could take a couple of months. This is where "it depends" really comes into play.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

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!)

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

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!

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!

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.

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?

What are the fish telling you? Are they eating all the food that is dispensed? Are they eating one feeding more than the others?

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?

Not that I have vast feeding experience, but as long as they'll eat it, I have to think there's nothing wrong with continuing the feeding schedule. I certainly don't think they'll ever quit getting a benefit from the food until they hit your fillet board. Up till then, even if they've maxed out on length, you can always add more weight from feeding.

Experts, am I off base on this?

As long as they eat, I believe it helps them. I feed as long as the water is warm enough. Not sure what temp that is. My BG feed until they are no longer hungry. My catfish feed as long as there are pellets floating.

Experts, am I wrong on this?

If you are looking for max BG growth, when the water cools a little, say down to 80-85, I would start a 3rd and tnen a 4th feeding. As you add feeding times, you will see that they will feed for a little shorter time. They have small stomachs and benefit from more times per day, up to 4. If you live at the pond, a day per wk without feeding is also beneficial. I wish the timer manufacturers would get with the program and offer a skip a day, also a simple switch to cut off the feed motor, but allow the timer to keep running.

I was wondering if 4 times a day at half the time I am feeding would be better than 2 times per day.

You think this is better for BG?

I think I can feed upto 6 times a day. I wonder if that would be even better, then again since I am not there I would have no idea what times they are feeding and what times they are not.

If they are consuming all you feed, I would not cut down on the 2 prime times, but add 3rd feeding at 11am at 1/2 time, and as it cools more, add another and change the last feeding to 630. They like to feed in warm water, but they all will eat more in the 75 to 80 range.
Fatten em up for the winter. It seems thru testing that 4 is optimal and more than that does little if any good.

I wish I could get out there more, or better yet live there and I would probably go ahead and feed all 6 settings and just have the extra 2 be just for the CC.

Since they are eating the Game Fish Chow do you think I ought to stay with it or change to Aquamax 400?

I was going to change just to give them the extra protein, but if for some reason I have to change back I and they not want to eat the GFC after getting used to AM, there may be problems.

Any Ideas?

I once again agree with BM (scary). Fall is a short window but one of the best times of the year to be feeding your fish- add mroe feeding not just ealry and alte liek you did in the hot summer months. THey ahev already began to feed well due to cooler nights.

However be aware of the cold snaps. This might happen soon to Canada clients. Here in the SE around mid November fish will slow way down- too cold so then set feeder to once per day at hottest part of day (3 pm) and fed this way until the stop feeding or keep it up all winter if they keep eating at minimum setting.

So are we setting the feeder based on water temps or air temps?

Also I would love to leave mine up all year but my concern is the ice storms we have and would hate for it to fall in the water.

My plan is to try to leave it up during Deer season and then take it down.

Does this seem like a good idea?


Also if I do decide to take it down when should I consider putting it back up and what times are recomended as good feeding times for when i put it back up?

I have also read that the fish tend to loose weigth if you stop feedign them, I am guessing they may not loose as much during the winter, is this true.

What % of weight loss should I expect while the feeder is down and how long to get the weight back up and more once feeding starts again in the spring?

Thanks

surface temp, take down when fish stop feeding, next march/april when water temsp rise above 55 start with feeding haottest part of day, yes fish will lose weigth less with slower metabolism, too many variables to predict weight loss.

Thanks for the info, I hope to be over there again on Monday as that will make it 2 weeks and I bet the feeder will be empty and I did not want that to happen.

At any rate I bet the fish are about to bust as they will have been stuffing themselves for 3 weeks and I hope to see some change in growth even though I doubt much could change in 2 weeks.

I may at least get to see what other types have fish taken to the feed and possible catch a CC for the first time. May try some Stubby Steves or corn while the feed is floating, do you this this may work?

Ok made it back yesterday to check the feeder and it was not empty so either it holds more feed than I thought or it was jammed.

At any rate we filled it back up and set it off to make sure it worked.

This fish pretty much at it all and I think more have come to eat as the water was popping louder than ever.

I think I need to think out the fish so the others can grow but I will continue this as it to see what happens.

Come to find out though I was feeding at noon not midnight.

Oh well I guess if they eat 3 times a day it will not hurt them.

Do you think it would be wise to go ahead and get another bag of feed that will last me until the end of November or just quit when my feeder is empty in the next week or so?

Also how long can you store feed before it goes bad?

I've kept pellets from October to early May and they still were good. If they get wet all bets are off. I kept mine in a metal trash can with a lid - it kept the mice from getting into it during the winter. The little buggers will chew thru plastic. I keep my food plot seed in an old chest type freezer that quit working. I toss in a bag of dessicant every year to keep moisture at bay.

So a large 7 gallon bucket with a screw on lid would not be a good idea?

That is what I currantly use and have not had a problem, but it has not been tested for months of storage.

I had to store a 50# sack of feed. For a smaller amount, I think that bucket would work providing you don't have a rodent problem. Here in the barn, I can never get rid of them all, even with blocks of One-Bite poison and a couple of local barn cats.

Well it looks like we are getting some cooler weather now. What do you think the water temps can change to if the mornings are in the 30's and it gets up into the 70's?

How long will it take for it to get below 60 degrees?

Too many variables to give an answer. Wal-Mart might have some of their pool thermometers on sale. I bought one for about $6 during the summer they might be cheaper now. I also purchased an indoor/outdoor thermometer from them or Lowes for less than $10. Knowing the temp is better than guessing.

Ok can you tell me the easiest way to use them if I do not have a boat or anything to get out to the water?

Also what depths should I check?

I just tossed it in where the water was a foot deep or so and read the temp that way. Right now, all you are concerned about is surface temp.

Well went out to feed and the water is the clearest it has ever been I would say you can see 15-20 inches in the water.

The problem is the fish were not eating and I just bought a new bag of feed, and I wanted to see them as I could have identified many since you could see them.

When I walked around the pond there were fingerlings everywhere but they were so quick I could not make out what they were.

Anyway just wondered what would be the worst thing that could happen if I continue to feed the whole 50 pound bag and the food is not eaten?

You'll be out $30 or so for food that just went to waste.

What about any water issues?

Would the cool weather help prevent them?

I may try to store it but would prefer the fish to eat it.

The were feeding like crazy just a week ago and could not get enough food, now not one is site.

Maybe once they adjust to the weather change.

If you feed the fish daily, and they don't eat the food, it will either sink or blow in to the shore and something will eat it. I'd continue to feed - the fish food will be no good if you try to save it for spring.

I think the ducks have been coming in and eating it. While deer hunting the other day about 20-30 ducks landed on the pond in the area the feed hits.

Just a thought.

One things for sure, wood ducks carry pocket watches. They usually fly in 15 minutes before the feeder goes off in the morning and evening.
They left about a week ago since the pond is getting a hard surface most nights and I just pulled the feeder.

Well if I ever wanted to try duck hunting this may be the time to do it.

I guess I could put up my deer blind to use as cover at the ponds edge.

Anyone here have any good duck recipes?

Dr. Catmandoo! Paging Dr. Catmandoo!

Ok I just changed my feeder to run 4 times a day at 3-4 seconds each time at the following times.

7am

11am

3pm

7pm


Do you think this is a good idea or would it be considered over feeding?


I am currently using this feeder:

http://www.moultriefeeders.com/productDetail.aspx?id=MFH-PS1



I thought I would feed less food more times a day rather than all at once.

Will this approach work, if so how long should I set each feeding for, and when should I stop feeding in the late morning and early afternoons?

Should I consider changing the times I am feeding?


Thanks

Mr Hello:
Is this the same .25 acre pond you were asking about yesterday?

According to the link you provided, that particular feeder will dispense .8lbs in 4 sec.... X 4 times per day, is over 3lbs of food. Seems like an awful lot for a pond that small.

If it were me, I would watch and see how much of that food is being consumed by the fish, vs. how much sinks to the bottom.

Just feed what they will consume in 10 minutes or so, each time.

Mine will dump a pound a second..

I may need to test run mine and try to catch what it spits out to see what each 4 seconds is really throwing out.

I may know it down to 3 seconds or even 3 feedings then. As I can not afford to feed 3 pounds a day plus seems like a ton of food.

I can tell you though that they eat all that is throws in the morning for sure as that is when I was there.

Plus when I threw more food out they ate it as well, I did this about 3 times by hand and seemed to get eating.

So I either have some hungry fish or too many. (Bank on the second)

Either way say they are eating all the food, and could even eat more would this be too much since the pond is so small?

Have you noticed fatter fish and longer fish since you have start this feeding program?

This yeat not so much but it has only been up about a month.

Last year when I put it up for the first time you could tell the difference. Just by looking at their bellies.

The catsfish were real big and if you rubbed their bellies you could feel the pellets inside.

I am switching to Aquamax so we will see if it makes much more difference or not, should have it in about 2 weeks.

Thanks

Now with the temps getting into the 100's outside, what time of day should I feed now?

I am currently feeding at:

7AM
11AM
3PM
7PM

Please let me know if I need to change or reduce my feedings and should I check both air and water temps to determine what I need to do?

Should I feed at night as well for the CC, say 10PM-4AM?

Thanks

Your gonna go through a $h*tload of food.. Feeding that much that many times a day.. Seems excessive to me.. I feed my fish twice daily for 1 second and I use 100lbs of food in under a month.. If I wanted too I could feed 100 lbs a week but you need to relize all the extra nutrient dumped in your pond.. My fish have grown amazingly in just a couple months I caught a 6-7" bluegill weighing 338grams right under 3/4 of a pound so it must be working..

Bluegillerkiller, what time of day do you feed?

How many fish do you think you are feeding?

Mine must not throw much feed as I go through about 50-60 pounds a month.

Either way I just thought for a while it is nice to feed them more but I may just tone it down and see what happens.

I have so many fish in the pond that as long as any of them are hungry they can eat.

Plus the Turtles are eating some as well, I guess I should jut plan to eat them as well.

Early morning and late evening seem to be the best for me.. Usually very little wind to carry the food off.. I'm feeding prolly hundreds hard to say.. I would say mine puts out close to 2lbs a second.. My food is completely ate in 10 mins I could easily feed twice If not 3x's as much but $65 month is my budget right now..

I wasn't sure to start a new thread or join this one, it's my first post.

I've got my first 1/2 acre Aqua-culture farm pond (1,000 LMB 2-4"fingerlings in April 2011.) Stocked some BG for feeders for next year (20 of them.)

The LMBs are all now easily 6" (although I have not checked them, just visually when they are feeding.) Some of them are starting to get wider.

I have a little AquaPro ADF 25 feeder, I had some problems with it and feeder stopped operating properly (it gummed up and I lost the little gear!) So the bass ate all 2,000 minnows and every living thing in my brand new pond (there were about a billion tadpoles that are gone.) I've got solar lights on the pond and on little floating bug pallets, that I think are helping them feed naturally at night and in the evenings.

Now the automated feeder is working again properly. I still have not added more than 40lbs of Aquamax 500 feed to the pond yet. I was feeding them 18 seconds at 7am and 12 seconds at 4pm. What I noticed is at noon, if I feed them they would feed hard again. There's a paper I read about 2x daily feeding vs 4 times daily feeding. The result in the paper was 2x was better than 1x, but that the marginal increase in number of feedings per day, did not justify the 4x feedings. The suggestion was 4x might be better, but not better if you have to pay folks to do it, I have an automated feeder and am going to move to 4x times per day 7:30 - 11:30, 2:30 and 5pm. I chose 5pm, cause I want the fish and food to be metabolized by dark when the DO depletion occurs. The paper suggested that smaller runts or less aggressive fish get their turn to feed better. The data suggested better distribution of growth among the entire population.

May: 2-4" fingerlings (about 8 grams each??) small amt of
Jun: didn't measure but definitely bigger
Jul: fingerlings definitely pushing the 6" mark.
Aug:

My goal was by November to have 8-10 fish, which would weight about 1/4-1/2 lb.

There are too many of moving variables, but this weekend I increased the feed rate to 4 times per day
28 secs in the morning.
12 secs at 11am
12 secs at 2 pm
18 secs at 5 pm

A 20 second burst is about 400 pellets. I found that the fish would clean this up in about 2 minutes or less. I visited at noon once, the automated feeder has a "test" mode, they hit it pretty hard, this is when I realized my times where low and started increasing them steadily (mid 3 week in june).

Note: I don't live in Oklahoma, Ohio is cold and snow. We typically don't get alot of 90+ degree temperature days.

What is the weight of 5", 6", 7", 8" LMB?
What is the typical month over month growth?

Great site. Love the details, questions and discussions. There are so many forum posts which apply to my questions on the feeder, feeder rates, LMB growths. Awesome community.

Ken

Hey I found this:
http://www.bassfishingcourse.com/small_large_bass.html

I was reading away elsewhere and forgot it click update, so this is actually, my 2nd post (it was the first one started though!)

Ken:

I don't have weights for the LMB for ya, but typically we feed fish in ponds the amount of food that they can clean up in 10 minutes.

Do you know the conversion rate for LMB? (Weight of pellets of food to weight of fish flesh?)

Cecil Baird1 used to feed his fish more times per day, but he found that they grew almost as fast feeding 1x or 2x/day and his food bill was less.

If you don't have an O2 meter, I'd think hard about investing in one. An O2 crash will NOT be good.

I don't know what to tell you about feeding the fish during the winter. They have to eat something, but not as much as during the warmer months. Maybe hand feed hydrated food? The warm water fish really slow down eating once water temps drop below 60 degrees.

Once the biomass gets larger, I think you will run into water quality issues if you aren't doing something for waste removal or filtration.