Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feed question/advise

Bassponder, I DO think you are crazy. I just happen to like crazy.

Thank you very much. I will try.

George I bought a Moultrie feeder a few months ago and it probably works just fine for what it does but it only feeds at dawn and dusk. Maybe they have something I can buy to change that I dunno. I haven't been using it and anyway part of what I love about my pond is getting to feed :). I watched my fish a long time and scheduled my feeding time at what time my bass were most actively hunting bluegill and insects and in my pond that was between 12PM - 2PM. I always assumed they hunted real early and late as I've been told that all my life but not my bass - they forgot to set their watches and that's what time they prefer to eat so I oblige. I've been real busy the last couple days so haven't been able to order the 600 yet but thank you so much for the advice.

Bill, make sure she coats those grasshoppers in chocolate and you won't notice a thing... Shoot - if my sweet, patient, kind, loving, etc., etc., hubby knew what I was slipping out of the freezer to feed to my fish (his hard earned hunted venison and turkey sometimes) - nah I just took some that was freezer burned... well sorta ;).

To answer the question on size. My pond is under an acre - probably between 3/4 to one.

On the turtles. I have caught some of the snapping turtles and relocated them and I'll probably move more of them. I have to be real quiet and sneak to catch them and it's pretty hard because I use a hand net and lay it down in the water and stay REAL still until one comes for food. While you are waiting of course there are always several bugs crawling up your back and down your underwear, a mosquito landing on your eyelid, a horsefly biting your ankle and a few drops of sweat dripping down your face and into your burning eyes just to test your mettle. I put the food in the net and when he gets in then I raise the net. You have to have a LOT of stealth and patience for that. Treachery is something you learn well in old age however so I'm usually successful...

On the snakes: I think I only have one catfish in the pond and it's not very large. I don't have any real small snakes that I can see and the smallest I've seen is about 2 1/2 feet. Meanandlean the bass would snatch a small snake in an instant as the worms I have fed him are up to ten inches which is probably why I don't see any small snakes in my pond. I think a pond side funeral service may be in order for my little snake Hotdog however as today I found small prints all around his cement block house. The water has dropped even lower and the blocks aren't even in water any more. He wasn't around today. I think the racoons got him last night I hope not poor little guy.

What about a solution on the aeration problem? I think it will be really, critical this year as I don't have that much water. I thought about even putting in the paddle boat but I'm afraid to stir things up at all. I have no idea where I can get a paddle wheel aerator? Isn't that the only kind that actually puts air into the pond rather than just moving the water around?

Thanks so much everyone for not kicking me outta here YET.

Cam

HEY!!!! I come from a long line of crazy women... why stop at my mother's generation?

Hi Cam:

How did you get that little box with my post to you inside your post to me?

"Treachery is something you learn well in old age however so I'm usually successful..." I'm 55 so I'm getting there.

I'm not one of the smart people on here. So I know nothing about aeration, except I have never needed to and if I ever did need to I would conclude I had way too many fish and let nature take its course. Too much trouble and expense for me to even think about. But I think they have fountain kinds too that squirts the water up into the air. But really you need to do a search because I know there is a lot of information here about aeration but I not the one to ask advise. In fact I am pretty much a novice about everything. I was naive enough to think you dig a hole in the ground, it rains, water comes in, you stock the water hole with fish and then you dont do anything but catch an eat them. Yeah right! But have hope I've only been on this for about 2 weeks or so and I have learned a lot. I spend hours reading old posts. But I experience a similar situation as you are the last three years, with last summer being the worst.

Last three years my pond went down 8 or 9 feet. It looses about a foot a month without rain on average, parial evaporation and seepage I guess. I have been told in Texas in the summer evaporation is about an inch a week. I got lots, and lots of willows and I think they cause a bunch of water loss. I went about 6 to 8 months without any run off to speak of in each of those years. Just light showers that soaked into the ground. My pond was just a little over half it's normal size by the time it got to ground water level and then just stayed there until we finally got a good rain. The thing is it only take a good bar ditch running rain for a day to fill it up even when it is that low. And that is about all I got is one a year. The first few years I had it it trickled an overflow 8 or 9 months a year.

I had a whole lot of fish in a little area. I didn't feed or fertilize or anything but put more brush where my fathead minnows and other little fish would have some spawning area's and cover. All the other stuff I had put in was high and dry. I still had about 10 or 11 feet of water in that area because it is pretty much a pit that was dug out with an excavator because they hit ground water at about 3 or 4 feet when they built the pond and then they just rounded it out around the pit and built the dam. The water stay a nice clear green (nicer, clearer and prettier than when it is full because the base of where it hits ground water is sugar sand).

I never had a fish kill. But I sure have a heck of a lot of stunned BG or GSF or whatever they are now. Still lots of big catfish, I think they all made it. I had no bass and that was lucky I think. I have pictures of my pond and a description of it under Family Pond Talk or something like that the name of the post is Pond in a Bog if you care to learn more. The think is every pond is differnt and maybe you should aerate. I just know that feeding could effect water quality so be careful.

Is your pond still an 3/4 an acre in area? How deep is it. Is what is left pretty steep?

When I read your posts it seemed you had a name for each fish and didn't expect you to have that large of a pond.

Well sorry I couldn't help more, but sometimes when I read about other peoples experiences it helps me to get an idea on what is similar to my situation, what is different, and what I should do.

Hope to hear more from you, and good luck.

Bill, when you go to answer a post you see at the bottom it has a bunch of little boxes? One says "quote" and if you hit that one it will put everything in a box so it will be more understandable what and who you are answering.

You are way old enough to learn treachery as you are older than I am. Maybe it's just an inherited trait though and something you just won't be very good at if you haven't learned it by now. Get an old broom and hold it in your hand and then try to practice it around Halloween for optimal results. I will warn you though that women are usually better at it than men so it may be you will fail anyway.

I can't possibly name all my fish and don't really know how many I have. I only name some of them and those are the ones that stand out in some way. They may be marked differently or act a bit odd or be a regular to a spot or a little larger than the rest. Whatever the difference is they stand out and get a name. Most of the bluegill I just call, "Dinner" and I just try not to look them in the face too hard.

I have read and read the aeration posts. It's exhausting trying to figure out what exactly is best for a given pond or a given situation as there are so many factors to consider. I also threw some trees in for my little fish this year and I raised the pond level a couple feet 2 years ago - which presented me with another problem I have to figure out. I'm still not sure if all that is left is so steep. One one side it is for sure but maybe not on the other side. It's does look like it's slanted and I guess it goes down probaby about 13 -14 feet now that the water level is so low. I think it used to be 17 foot at the very deepest but that was just in one little place. The pond has never been a nice clear green but I hope to make it like that in the future. It's fed a lot from run off and I used to cut the grass all around it. I suppose the clipping were ending up in the pond. Anyway, I want to figure a way to where the water isn't so "fertilized" This is the fisrt year I've been able to see anything at all in the pond and I'd love to be able to keep it nice - even now it's not really all that clear it's just shallow... I'm going to go look at your pond photos now - keep practicing treachery...

Cam:

I hope this response isn't too general to be of any use.

If you actually have a need (or even just a concern) to provide short term emergency aeration, O2 can be added to the water with outboard motors, mowers/bush hogs on tractors, trassh pumps splashing water from the pond back into it; any number of means to churn up the water. On a small pond, emergency horizontal aeration could even be done with a trolling motor and battery (although I'm not sure emergency horizontal aeration would always be a good idea).

You might want to start a thread under aeration, giving your questions concerning it and details about the pond - size, depth, age, surrounding areas (trees, IIRC). I have been able to glean that electricity is not immediately available at the pond. Do you have access to electricity farther away from it? Long term, aeration can be sent to the pond via a pipeline for the air.

Thanks Theo, I'll go over to the aeration section with this. I think I have a problem with oxygen content in there but am so ignorant of anything having to do with ponds even though I've been reading I just am having trouble sorting it out. I know it's kinda funny but I suffer from oxygen deprivation myself so have a fuddled brain - ain't that a kick? No really! Anyway, I used to have a really good functioning brain but now it's hard to follow certain things and math I don't even try - hence the size of my fish are measured by how big they are in relation to cement blocks. Well, away I go over to aeration...

Tell me about it. I hit a mental wall at 2:00 PM today - I realized everything I'd done in the previous 1/2 hour was all hosed up and I couldn't figure out how to fix it without starting over from scratch, with no guarantee I'd do any better the second time. I moved on to another task and will try and fix that stuff tomorrow.

Thanks about the instructions on posting.

Well best of luck Cam. It dosn't sound too bad. I don't know what clarity you want but it probably wouldn't be good to have it too clear. It isn't soupy or anything is it? Do you have lots of ducks or geese?

What is the reason you think you don't have enough DO? I think Theo is right start a post and give lots of information about your pond.

I'd give it a few weeks before I gave up on the pellets, and you're doing real well getting Meanandlean to eat hotdogs. BTW when I was in the Army we had to yell over and over we were mean green lean fighting machines. I bet he is green. Maybe you should add another word to his name.

Good luck,

Bill

All you have to do when that happens is take your power nap and you won't have to start over

Cam

No ducks or geese Bill. My pond is fed by a lot of run off though and maybe it;s getting too much fertilization that way? Seems too green and most of the time the clarity is inches. The last years it was probably only a couple of inches. Now it isn't bad but we haven't had the rain and it's real shallow. It's turning a bit brownish on one end.

I think I probably don't have enough DO just because of how the pond is shaped, no water running thru at all this year, shrinkage of the surface and the past years fish kill with much more surface area and more water. Anyway I took it over to aeration.

If you were a lean mean green fighting machine I guess you were long gone before they switched to camo. I guess they are lean, mean,invisible fighting machines now?

Cam

Bassponder.... I just watched your vids on your web page...! There great hahah I love Lean and Means Hot dog trick. It belongs on Americas funniest animals or something.

Yes long before camo, and long gone since I was lean

I was desperate Joey! That poor fish was starving even though he was surrounded by bluegill. I would see him hunting for hours using calories and expending energy that he sure couldn't afford and he'd always try to catch the 1-2 inch tiny fish even though he's by far big enough to get big bluegill. He can't catch a thing... He'd stop by where I sit and just look up at me for long periods of time. It was heartbreaking I tell you. The other bass look good but he looked like a super model ready for Halloween. Why Meanandlean was so thin he made those starving boney news stand photos of Nicole Ritchie look like the picture of health. He swam around just fine and didn't look sick other than being skinny and he was certainly alert but gawd what a skeleton... I can't help thinking that maybe he got finned in the mouth or something a few times by taking a bit bigger bluegill and he won't take them anymore. I don't know...

Well, in just one week (or less) look at him now! Isn't he the cutest fish ever now? He did start giving me a bit of a problem yesterday and ended up leaving disgruntled but I hope we have it worked out.

Dare I ask Cam, how did he give you a bit of a problem? And what made him go away disgruntled?

Did you try to give him a hotdog without a night crawler attached?

Bill

Well Bill, it's like this. The pond was icky from the wind blowing every bit of anything right over to where I feed so I couldn't see very well to begin with. The bass and the larger bluegill were mostly hanging back a ways as the pond is just inches deep now where I feed. Everyone was half spooked as there were birds flying over from time to time and the wind was up. I was antsy over all that and the fish were too. Meanandlean and a buddy he brought with him were right up front making pitiful faces. I was feeding him hotdog worms but he started to look all crafty like and then realized those weren't REAL worms at all... The little creep quit on me and the water was littered with fake worms. By that time all the other bass had been fed and left and I was just hanging out for about an hour I guess looking at the pond and making mean faces back at Meanandlean. Meanandlean was busy sitting right at the bank training his buddy in the fine art of pitiful starving face making while a plentitude of bluegill swam around them... I was a bit upset at them both and started throwing chunks of hotdogs all around the little creeps (and at them if the truth be known). Of course Meanandlean you can hit right on the ole noggin with a hotdog and he won't even flinch. I thought at least it would make the bluegill get right in his face and he might take one. Well, the bluegill swim around him anyway but don't normally go too awfully close to his mouth. I kept this up for awhile and lo and behold if ole bonehead didn't take a chunk of hotdog! He took three chunks in all, gave me a dirty look, then turned around, swished his tail at me in an ugly way and swam off to the depths... I feel I've won a major battle and he's on his way to eating. I think I'll start putting commercial fish food inside chunks of hotdogs... I still have a long battle to go but I'm determined to win. I wonder if he'll show today - it's time for me to go down there now. They will be waiting - the monsters...

BP, this is a great story. Please keep us updated on how meanandlean progresses with his feeding. Maybe next year you can graduate him to Aquamax LargeMouth. My HSB are starting to prefer that over Aquamax 600. And I think there are a few LMB mixed in with the HSB. Feeding fish is the best part of having a pond.

Cute story. And I agree with the above, Feeding Fish is so rewarding. I can sit on the dock for hours, just watching them in the pond. Do keep us updated.

Shame on you Cam, tricking and upsetting that poor fish!

Cam you are such a nice lady, or you are crazy like the others say. However, I like to think the best.

Did you read the post about a LMB that looked like he was straving and had a bunch of plastic baits lodged in his digestive system and couldn't digest any food.

Perhaps you should inspect Meanandleans digestive system. That would cure his anorexia the same way Caligula cured his nephews cough by having his head cut off.

Well just an idea.

But I did guess right. He got mad at you because you gave him hotdogs without worms attach!

Keep them coming. I got a friendly GH starting to get within just a few feet when I feed, but the fish, except FH's and tinsy BG, still keep their distance several feet away and keep their heads under water except for a few vacuum cleaner CC.

Inspect his digestive system??? AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! He's so entertaining I couldn't possibly do that! I'm still trying to get all these acronyms right on the different types of fish. I know the LMB and the BG but the GH and FH and the CC? Sometimes when I read them and I don't know what they are I like to make up my own names for them FH = Fanning Hulafish GH = Gargantuan hermosafish CC= Carniverous Cuttlemonster

You know Bill, I don't know if I'd want a Gargantuan Hermosafish anywhere near my hands when I feed... You may want to rethink that... Now the Fanning Hulafish seem altogether different - I'd let them come on in without a worry in the world.

I started "loading" my hot dogs yesterday for the bass and it works for some to a point:

'CC= Carniverous Cuttlemonster' --

That made me giggle for several minutes.

GH is for Green Heron, GBH, is for Great Blue Heron. I made the same mistake with Theo. The bird acronyms are below the fish ones. CC is channel catfish. I missed that one too once. FH = fathead minnow.

Your fish names are making my head hurt! I didn't get much sleep last night because I had to do an emergency search to purchase a kayak for a turle trapping and tagging expedition down the Sabine River that I was invited on last night. No free boat space and too many fallen trees to get my john boat through. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some 1lb lmb and 6"+ CNBG. I think my wife is going to make me catch and eat grasshoopers to save money and redeem my spending on outdoor type activities. 1lb+ cost about what Alaskan crab legs cost. On well I have heard they have been eating grasshoppers in Arabia for thousands of years.

How is Meanandlean doing? Has he forgiven you yet?

[/quote]

GH is for Green Heron, GBH, is for Great Blue Heron. I made the same mistake with Theo. The bird acronyms are below the fish ones. CC is channel catfish. I missed that one too once. FH = fathead minnow.

Your fish names are making my head hurt! I didn't get much sleep last night because I had to do an emergency search to purchase a kayak for a turle trapping and tagging expedition down the Sabine River that I was invited on last night. No free boat space and too many fallen trees to get my john boat through. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some 1lb lmb and 6"+ CNBG. I think my wife is going to make me catch and eat grasshoopers to save money and redeem my spending on outdoor type activities. 1lb+ cost about what Alaskan crab legs cost. On well I have heard they have been eating grasshoppers in Arabia for thousands of years.

How is Meanandlean doing? Has he forgiven you yet? [/quote]

It's going to take me 100 years to remember all the acronyms... Surely there is a list somewhere I can refer to. You are going to trap and tag turtles? What kind of turtles? What for? I'd hate to try to pull a big ole snapping turtle up into a kayak I didn't know 1lb LMB cost so terribly much..

I have to figure out what I need to take out of my pond for the winter so everyone will have enough to eat. I am noticing that the baby bluegill population that was so heavy is now diminishing. There are still a lot but not a lot of the tiny ones anymore that were down in the end I called the nursery. Maybe I need to take out fish but WHO comes out? GULP

I dunno about eating an ole yucky grasshopper even if you plant them on a stick and double dip them in chocolate and put candy sprinkles on top. My fish seem to like them awfully well except for the brown ones which they will spit out for some reason. Maybe if you HAVE to eat them just try to stick to the green ones. Ole Same Bass who lives on the other side of the pond from Meanandlean likes those. I lived down in South America for awhile and saw some unappetizing things eaten. I ordered some soup in a restaurant once and one of the words on the menu was unfamilar. Found out later I had eaten Guinea pig - oops...

I did a real stupid thing yesterday and I thought it would set me back for awhile with ole Meanandlean but I got lucky and it didn't. We are working on our gray water line and have a bunch of big 9-10 inch worms and I took a few to the pond. I thought I'd give the old bonehead a treat... Duh After working so hard to get him to take food I went and gave him a few worms.. Of course that was it for him for the day...

I'm not posting today to my little pond journal because not much happened down there today but Meanandlean did eat and he ate well and he ate chunks loaded with fish chow. I'd like to get some of those big bass food chunks (I forgot what the name of them are?) that are new to try. I think they're about the same size as the hotdog chunks and I think it'll be an easier transition for me to make to get them to take. I'll probably have to soak them to make them soft but I think I can pull it off.

Enjoy your trip down the river and take lots of photos and share them!