Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Grinding Aquamax

Since the 1"er BG in the pond have no chance of eating the AQ500 I've got, I decided to contribute a coffee grinder to the feeding program. I had to do some adjusting of the dies to get it coarse enough, but now it's easy to convert a handful of AQ500 into a baggie of anything from dust to 1/16" meal.

We tried it this weekend and were encouraged to see the smallest fish sampling on the food.

Too bad we can't feed on a more regular basis, but it's good to know they get a good feeding at least once a week.

-RFL

If you can't feed on a regular basis, perhaps a feeder is in your future. Most peeps on here are die hard Texas Hunter fans, but I've gotten 4 years of faithful service from my $40 Moultrie Game feeder. I have to refill it once a week but I can live with that. This one is a little larger and nicer than mine:


Moultrie Feeder

That is the feeder my father and I both have. I am on my 3rd season and all seems well. I have replaced a spinner plate which was a task to get considering they told me that they do not sell them. Yet my father received two in the mail. I saved the old one as well just in case I may have to Gorilla Glue it in, but for now the replacement is working.

As for the feeder it seems to do the trick for now, I too have to fill it once or twice a week, but I think it may be more due to the fact that the coons or some other critters keep getting in mine.

I plan to rig something up a little different next spring, but for now I think I may only have a few weeks left to feed, unless I try to find some trout which I have thought about and leaving it up until we get some ice on the ponds. Unless we have a winter like last year and the trout may day from water temps.

Thank you for feeder recommendations but the issue at hand is feeding small BG that can't eat the big stuff. That's why I cannibalized the coffee grinder to make some starter food that they can eat.

I was just wondering if anyone else has been successful with grinding their own feed and am interested in learning from what others had experienced.

AM comes in several sizes. GFC has all sizes in one bag. I have broken up AMLM for our small HSB. For small BG GFC is good enough. You don't have to grind up AM. You can put some (several lbs.) in a couple plastic bags and roll the car over it a couple times and be good enough. A cinder block as a crusher also works. You can grind by hand and that will work. BG will eat ground up pellets just fine.

I must have picky BG. They ate at GFC but they devour AM. When I looked into buying some smaller AM, I quickly decided that I was going to make what I needed because anything other than AM500 is ridiculous $$ and I would never use up 50# of the small stuff before the bugs got to it.

-RFL

If you're feeding by hand, just soak the AM. The smaller BG will pick at the softened pellets and peck them apart.

But, as long as the grinder already smells like fish oil, you've got nothing to lose other than the time it takes to grind.

I think your plan is a good one. I feed hydrated AQ500 in some of our ponds, and you can see the smaller fish just hammering the softer food as it breaks apart.

A coffee grinder sounds like a great idea! I've tried smashing AM with a hammer in a plastic bag and a food chopper. I wasn't happy with either of my methods, that food is really hard.

What I didn't like about making the food smaller is that it no longer floats. I bought some tropical fish flake food (Tetra Min) to feed the smallest minnow babies. They loved it and it floats so I could still watch them eat. I only feed occasionally so a small jar goes a long way. The hydrated food works well too but my baby minnows seemed to prefer the Tetra Min.

When I had puppies that were being weaned, I chopped up puppy dog food in a blender (Osterizer)with infant formula to make "mush". I slowly decreased the grinding time until they were eating the full sized puppy dog food pieces. Then I slowly reduced the amount of formula until they were just eating it dry.

If more food was needed than a coffee grinder produces, maybe try the blender?

I haven't soaked anything since switching over to AM from GFC. It used to be required to soak the GFC to get the fish to take it. That's not a problem with the AM. The attractants are much better.

Maybe I'll try soaking some of that so it's easier to tear apart.

Once I got the first batch ground I was informed by my wife that I needed to find a place in the basement to keep the grinder.

-RFL

The benefit of a burr grinder over a blender or blade grinder is the ability to control the size of the product. You'll still get some fine dust, but the burr gap will determine the size of the largest pieces. I had to work with the set up of the grinder to increase the gap because I wanted chunks much bigger than a coarse coffee grind. Now I get nice fractured particles all the way down to dust, so there's food pieces sized for everyone.

-RFL

Another topic on which I'm late to the discussion, but to answer your question, yes, I have done this. I have been using a high protein Burris feed, but have nonetheless ground it up for use in home aquariums with very small BG. My wife won't let me use the coffee grinder so I just do it by hand in a heavy freezer bag with a hammer or mallet. Not as consistent as a grinder would do, I'm sure, but it does the trick and the fish eat it like crazy.

Todd, go buy your own. I've used a cheapo coffee grinder to grind pecans. It works and is less than $25 at WalMart.

I use am old meat grinder for my grinding. I grind to feed Gambusia minnows also.

@ roadwarrior or MRHELLO, Hey Am I understanding it correctly, this moultrie is a DIRECTIONAL feeder? From the pics it is not identifiable as such.If so, I'll give one of these babies a try. I assumed these threw feed in a 360 deg radius.

Whenever I'm looking for a kitchen appliance to use outside of the kitchen in a manner my wife would NOT approve of.I usually have very good luck with thrift stores like goodwill etc.

I use an old blender to grind Game fish chow and Aquamax often mixed together.

All great suggestions. I suspect my wife would quickly recognize the awkward taste in her coffee if I used hers! WalMart, here I come!

Will feeders throw the "dust" feed a reasonable distance? I think I will try grinding some or using some of ewests methods to make it smaller for this fish in my new forage pond. I think a mix of AM or GFC with fine ground feed would feed everything if it would throw well.

I have one of the aquamax dx-25 directional hanging feeders. Very inexpensive feeder so folks with better feeders will get different results...

I've just recently started mixing the AM400 in a 50/50 ratio with AM500 and I can see that the smaller 400 only goes about 2/3 the distance the larger food goes. Note that the AM400 is NOT "dust" but 3/32"

You mean AquaPro feeder?

Oops, good catch! my mistake, they are aquapro!