Quick Update and Question:
As noted above I've gone to feeding my catfish some cleanings from a commercial trout farm up the road about 4-5 miles. The catfish have taken to it much better than expected. I feed about 15 lbs per evening (4-5 nights per week) and throw out about 2-3 lbs every minute or two to make sure it all gets eaten. They've patterned to it well and hit the cleanings within seconds of it hitting the water. In fact, two nights ago I observed what I believe was a 15 pound Channel Cat hit 2 trout heads as soon as they hit the water. Quite the sight. I'll try to post video once I get them feeding closer to the dock and feeding more aggressively.
This brings me to a question, and maybe I should start a separate thread on this. Right now it appears as though my Channel Cats are consuming most of the cleanings. Many of the fish feeding on the cleanings are too big to be my Blue Cats that I stocked just a year and a half ago. From what I've read in the past, BC tend to feed better in cold water periods than CC, and CC tend to feed better during the warmest water temps. Do we presume that BC are going to become more active when I feed in the later fall and winter months, and the CC less active? Is there literature out there describing metabolic differences between CC and BC (I'm looking at you esshup and ewest!!)? I'm just kind of curious if I may see a shift in the feeding when I keep a small section ice free this winter and continue feeding. Or if there's anything I can attempt to observe so our board can learn from my experiences, mistakes and opportunities.
Wanted to Edit and add this link in with info relative to this question.......
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=480001&page=1Also this quote.... -- Optimum growing temperature for blue catfish is reported
to be about 24°C (75F), compared to 30°C (86F) for
channel catfish (Collins 1988). --
