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Joined: Jul 2014
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Hey guys we've just recently (yesterday) stocked some (50) brown trout into a small pond on my property. The pond has a huge number of what I believe are fathead minnows and a good number of big golden shiners. It's full of them. We bought a bag of feed (pellets) as well and don't really know the process of feeding.

A few questions,

How do you tell if the trout are eating the baitfish? There are so many in there that I wouldn't notice a reduction if they were eating them.

The guy we bought the fish from basically just told us not to feed them when its warm, we tried to get more info, but it was a bit of a battle to get him to say more.

How often do you feed, I've found some charts for other types of trout to find out how much food/week they need, but do they need to be fed daily, weekly, do they need to be fed pellets at all if they are gulping up our minnows and shiners? And again, how do you tell if this is the case.

Finally we were also told to wait a few days before trying to feed them, how many days would you recommend?

Here is a link with some pictures of the ponds, it is the front (smaller) one we have stocked. (The one without all the weeds)

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=383218#Post383218

Oh and it has an aerator on it even though there isn't one in the pictures.

Last edited by whitewatersalvo; 07/27/14 04:29 PM.
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Very cool. Welcome to the forum.

Where in Ontario are you? We are north of London.

Any pictures of the browns? I am betting that if they can catch any old dieing minnows they will help them self to them. If they get hungry enough they will hit the minnows.

Cheers Don.


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The rule of thumb is not to put more food in the pond than what will be consumed in 15 minutes. You can put less in, but more is not recommended. Get a thermometer that you can use to take water temps with. A pool thermometer on a string will do. I have noticed that trout in my pond slow down or stop feeding when surface water temps get to the low 70°F range.

But, using the 15 minute rule will allow you to let the fish tell you if they are hungry or not.


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Thanks for the tips guys, the trout and I both appreciate it!

Originally Posted By: DonoBBD
Very cool. Welcome to the forum.

Where in Ontario are you? We are north of London.

Any pictures of the browns? I am betting that if they can catch any old dieing minnows they will help them self to them. If they get hungry enough they will hit the minnows.

Cheers Don.


Hey Don, we're out in the farmlands north of Waterdown and Burlington. I'll try to get a pic up of the browns in the bag, this storm has made our satellite internet very sketchy.

As for the trout eating the natural food in the pond, does this mean that we should try just not feeding them at first? We would prefer that they find a natural niche in the pond without the need for pellets. There are tons of water striders, dragonfly larvae, and little black unknown bugs all over the pond in addition to all the baitfish and some tadpoles.

We haven't fed them anything yet (stocked on saturday morning), and are worried that if we do they will like the pellets too much and not eat in anticipation of the pellets.

Originally Posted By: esshup
The rule of thumb is not to put more food in the pond than what will be consumed in 15 minutes. You can put less in, but more is not recommended. Get a thermometer that you can use to take water temps with. A pool thermometer on a string will do. I have noticed that trout in my pond slow down or stop feeding when surface water temps get to the low 70°F range.

But, using the 15 minute rule will allow you to let the fish tell you if they are hungry or not.


Appreciate you taking the time esshup, I just still don't know if we should be feeding them pellets at all.

How long can 10" brown trout go without eating anything before they starve. For instance if (despite all the avail. food for them in the pond - see above) they are not eating it, how would we know that before they start dying on us.

Got a thermo, and the pond is a comfortable 68 at surface right now, which I think should be fine for browns from what I've read.

I guess this is part of the fun of owning a stocked pond, but I am worried about those little beauties. smile

Last edited by whitewatersalvo; 07/28/14 09:40 AM.
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Fish in ponds, when fed pellets don't only eat pellets and disregard natural food. What we are doing is supplemental feeding. I've had rainbows in the pond during the winter for a number of years now. Last year is the first year that I didn't feed them during the winter. When stocked at an average of 1# each in my pond, from the middle of October to ice out they gained another pound each in weight whether I fed them or not. (I have an automatic feeder that feeds in the morning and at dusk - and I normally use 50# of Purina Aquamax 600 per month)

Once ice is off, they start eating more. I have kept the feeding rate the same, and they really start packing on the weight. Now why, if I am feeding the same, are the trout growing more? I can't answer that. More natural food in the pond? Less energy being used? All I know is that the trout are a lot larger when supplementally fed, and even if they aren't fed for 6 months, they still remember what pellets are.

You might find it's enjoyable to watch the fish feed. It's a way to see them without having to hook them. I really wouldn't worry about them eating or not eating natural food in the pond. I figure if they're hungry, they'll eat.


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Alright, so I tried to "supplementally" feed them last night, put 1.5 cups of pellet feed in and nothing happened.Waited 15 minutes or so and they still weren't having any of the floating food so I left. You'd think they would remember how to feed from the farm we bought them from.

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If you have that much forage fish in your pond, especially slow moving fatheads you're probably wasting your time by feeding pellets. Trout will quickly take to natural feed as is evidenced by the local lakes they are planted in. We find them in the bellies of trout rather quickly.

By holding back on the feed you will not only save money you will prevent excessive phosphorus from feeding nuisance plants.

I would hold back on the feed until they seem to have cropped down the minnows. They will remember how to feed on pellets. Guarantee it.


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Thanks everyone for the insight, I hope that I can give back to the forum in time.


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