Well guys I'm a little concerned about the all males I put in my 1/10th acre pond. I've had high hopes as they are 7 inchers that are only 2 years of age! Many of them still are lined up facing the bank in very shallow water and although I can get some of them to suck up pellets most are not interested in pellets. Many are so shallow their backs are almost out of the water. Thank goodness a passing heron as not keyed in on this yet. During the day during bright sunny weather there are many suspending near the surface farther out. I can get some of them to suck in pellets if I throw them to them.

Possible explanations are:

1.) Low grade disease problems or parasites. However only one mortality in a couple months and I see no signs of fungus or bacteria on their bodies. But I haven't removed any of them to examine them closely. I thinking of send a few to a disease lab and see if they come up with anything. Fish are directly from an RAS and it is possible they have a low resistence to pathogens due to not being exposed to them or building up an immunity. Kind of like breast fed babies vs. all bottle fed. However these fish were pond fish initially. I had one fish farmer in PA tell me he did not think RAS fish were as adaptable to ponds as pond raised fish. But one sign that it may NOT be a pathogenic thing is the fish do scoot off rapidly when approached and are impossible to net. Also the fish have been doing this for a couple of months now with no appreciable mortality or obvious disease signs.

2.) Being it is a new pond the fish are forgoing pellets to feed on natural feed items. However the fish in shallow water don't seem to be actively feeding. They just appear to be sitting their facing the bank. There was a prolific amount of tadpoles earlier and some very very small frogs which the fish sucked in as soon as I threw them to them. Maybe there are smaller food Items I am not seeing. I suspose I could open one up or suck out some stomach contents.

3.) Fish are just having a hard time adapting to the wild environment coming out of stainless steel tanks. It's like putting someone from NYC into the wild. LOL

Thank you all for your previous comments and more would be greatly appreciated.

BTW Bruce. Nice fish! They look similar to the bluegills I planted out of the RAS. Only difference was the RAS fish were a little pale with a purple sheen.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.