Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Leftover feed ?

When I use a feed, my assumption is the feed contains all the nutrients in optimum amounts needed to support good growth. Feed that has been sitting around exposed to air (oxygen), moisture, heat, and /or light is going to experience chemical reactions between nutrients that preferentially degrade some. The unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins are most vulnerable to this process. If fish are also getting a good amount of nutrition from forages, then some degradation will not be an issue. In my setting I typically use feeds in ponds, cages and recirculating systems where degradation of nutrient quality does negatively impact growth in a measurable way. The harder you push the fish using feed, the more important the feed quality is.

To further pattern with something like Bluegill, when just supplementing the natural forage base, providing it with nutrients as a diet made for catfish works fine. As I push the Bluegill to grow faster with less dependence on the natural forages, then feeds with more protein, lipids and vitamins is sought.