I stocked 150 4-5" BG in a my pond that previously only had LMB.
I know you are suppose to watch and see what they eat in 10 minutes but the fish are not all aggessively feeding at the surface so I can tell when they stop. I'm feeding Optimal junior from a Texas Hunter set twice a day (moring and evening) for 2 seconds. Pond is ~2/3 acre.
Is there a guesstimate for how much a day 150 4-5" BG should be fed during warm weather?
4-1/2" BG are about 15 fish to the pound. So we are talking about 10 lbs of BG. In a pond with only LMB, there is no reason to feed them yet. There is lots of food in the pond naturally that LMB can't use effectively. I actually wouldn't feed them at all ... at least not until they pulled off a few spawns. Then you can decide if you want to additional nutrients to your water.
But back to the amount. A BG could eat as much at 3% of its body weight per day ... which for the fish you just stocked (at their current size) is about 5 oz per day. Ideally you only want to supplement their diet. The pond foods are better for them than the artificial feed and until you get a good standing crop of BG going they are going to have plenty to eat.
