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Stocked pond question
Posted on 4/16/19 at 9:23 am
Posted on 4/16/19 at 9:23 am
It’s been about 7 months since I stocked my pond. I’ve been throwing out fish food but haven’t seen anything eating it. How long until they are big enough to eat fish food usually? Or is there something smaller than the pellets that work better for young fish?
7
Posted on 4/16/19 at 9:42 am to Duffnshank
quote:
How long until they are big enough to eat fish food usually?
We stocked our pond in December with minnows, chinquapin and channel cat.
Through the winter we would throw a handful or 3 every few days but saw minimal activity.
Now that it has warmed up, the minnows go crazy and every once in a while you'll hear better "pop" that I assume is the panfish or channel cat.
quote:
Or is there something smaller than the pellets that work better for young fish?
Ours just peck the heck out of them until they are gone...
To your point though, you should be seeing increasing activity when feeding by now. We have on a slightly shorter time window.
Posted on 4/16/19 at 10:00 am to Duffnshank
It can take bluegill awhile to get "trained" to pellets. If you're in the south they should be large enough by now to eat them. Try to feed in the same place at the same time every day so they can pick up on it, in a place in the pond they feel comfortable preferably around cover. Feeders are good because the fish can learn to associate the noise at a consistent time and place.
Posted on 4/16/19 at 10:02 am to Duffnshank
Try a timed automatic feeder to better train the fish. Much more consistent
Posted on 4/16/19 at 10:56 am to Duffnshank
For the record, I didn't down vote the other two posts although it looks like it.
I'm being set up.
I'm being set up.
Posted on 4/16/19 at 11:19 am to Clyde Tipton
Fight me breh
Posted on 4/16/19 at 2:07 pm to TheDrunkenTigah
Important..use floating AND sinking pellets
Posted on 4/16/19 at 7:56 pm to Duffnshank
quote:
It can take bluegill awhile to get "trained" to pellets. If you're in the south they should be large enough by now to eat them
This
quote:
Now that it has warmed up
And this
quote:
Try a timed automatic feeder to better train the fish.
As well as this
Serious question for all of you using pelleted feeds in your recreational fish ponds, what is your primary reason(s) for doing so? There are good reasons, I’m just curious to your primary reason(s).
Posted on 4/16/19 at 9:26 pm to CrawDude
quote:
what is your primary reason(s) for doing so?
Pelleted food is high in protein, plus artificially feeding reduces predation on the smaller fish and minnows while the entire population stabilizes. I always just stomped my foot a couple of times when I was feeding. Doesn't take them very long at all to get conditioned to this.
Posted on 4/17/19 at 5:08 am to Duffnshank
quote:
Or is there something smaller than the pellets that work better for young fish?
Use flakes for very small fish.
Pellets, even the very small ones, can get caught in their mouths and choke and or make eating very difficult
Posted on 4/17/19 at 11:34 am to Duffnshank
Optimal fish food makes a feed called bluegill junior that is perfect for new ponds. I used it to get started, now I feed them the cheap stuff from tractor supply.
Posted on 4/17/19 at 2:20 pm to Churchill
Pellets work fine in my pond
Posted on 4/19/19 at 5:50 pm to Shoalwater Cat
Where do you get these?
Posted on 4/19/19 at 5:55 pm to Duffnshank
Also the guy that stocked my pond said since it’s a new pond with all new fingerlings, there was no need to add any kind of minnows until the pond got a year or two old. I’ve never really heard of this everyone told me I needed minnows. Anyone else ever heard of this? He told me there was plenty for them to eat for the first year without the minnows. Should I go ahead and put some in regardless?
Posted on 4/19/19 at 10:01 pm to Duffnshank
Can you provide more information on what was stocked in your pond and when? I’m assuming this is a bass-bream pond, and bream were stocked last fall, and bass will be stocked shortly?
Bream stocked last fall have sufficient natural food in the pond. Stocking fathead minnows are optional, and are meant to provide supplemental forage for the bass population. Bream will provide the bulk of the forage for bass.
Read pages 11-15 on stocking in this manual. It discusses minnows.
Don’t know your location, but if in LA this MS publication is applicable.to LA. I linked this publication because it is a more current than Louisiana’s recreational pond manual, but with few exceptions, all the southern states’ recreational pond/small lake extension manuals provide very similar stocking and management recommendations.
Managing Mississippi Ponds and Small Lakes
ETA: Thought it might be helpfully to add other southern states’ recreational pond manuals
Louisiana Recreational Pond Manual
Texas Recreational Pond Manual
Arkansas Recreational Pond Manual
Alabama Recreational Pond Manual - Stocking
1 part of a 7 part series on managing recreational ponds in AL
Bream stocked last fall have sufficient natural food in the pond. Stocking fathead minnows are optional, and are meant to provide supplemental forage for the bass population. Bream will provide the bulk of the forage for bass.
Read pages 11-15 on stocking in this manual. It discusses minnows.
Don’t know your location, but if in LA this MS publication is applicable.to LA. I linked this publication because it is a more current than Louisiana’s recreational pond manual, but with few exceptions, all the southern states’ recreational pond/small lake extension manuals provide very similar stocking and management recommendations.
Managing Mississippi Ponds and Small Lakes
ETA: Thought it might be helpfully to add other southern states’ recreational pond manuals
Louisiana Recreational Pond Manual
Texas Recreational Pond Manual
Arkansas Recreational Pond Manual
Alabama Recreational Pond Manual - Stocking
1 part of a 7 part series on managing recreational ponds in AL
This post was edited on 4/22/19 at 8:06 am
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