I just stocked my pond with channel catfish 6-8 inches ,and I feed them fish pellets and they will not eat ?

Answer 1

2 reasons.

1) it always takes them a week or 2 to start eating. continue feeding a small amount(maybe 5- 10 pounds) in the same place at the same time everyday. usually late afternoon is best time.

2) there is a natural, wild source of food(something like small bugs, minnows) abundant in your pond. they are eating it right now. they will eventually clean that up and start eating feed.

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i forgot to add, use floating feed, so you can observe them eating . dont put out feed in a place where the wind blows it right back to the bank.

also, you didnt say where you live. this makes a difference. if you live in an area where the water is still cold, the fish will be slow to eat until it gets warmer.

Answer 2

No doubt you bought you fingerlings from a pond stock supplier so they should be used to pelleted or granule feed. First, they won't eat well at all at lower temperatures and temperatures below 50F will result in almost no feeding activity at all. Below 60F they have greatly reduced metabolism and efficiency of digestion and so should only be fed about once every 2 days and at about 20% normal ration (about 0.2% of estimated total weight of fish) and a lower protein feed (below 32%). So check your deep water temperatures and adjust the feed rate if needed.

Also check your feed size. They producer was possibly feeding a #2 or #3 granule instead of even the smallest pellet, so that could be a factor as well. Though at that size they can easily handle a #3 granule or a 1/4" pellet.

If you just stocked in the last 24 hours that could also be a factor. They often will not feed for up to 3 days after being restocked, so don't be alarmed if this is the case.

Feel free to email me if I can help further.

MM

Answer 3

k I got this from a website

"The channel catfish is an opportunistic omnivore, gorging itself on nearly any form of living or dead material. Being primarily a nocturnal animal, channel catfish must rely on its sensory organs, including the well-developed barbels, to find food. Their diet consists of aquatic insects, worms, clams, crayfish, snails, and fish, all of which could be dead or alive. Their stomachs might be packed with vegetable materials dropped into the water or minnows depending on what’s available. However, big channel catfish eat almost nothing but fish."

my fiance has also studied aquaculture. try stocking your ponds with small crustaceans, fresh water clams, snails, an aquatic plant easily controlled, and try suspending cages over the water filled with meat or veggies. flies will produce on the suspending cages, and the larva will fall into the water feeding nearby fish.(that's kinda gross and i'd imagine it would smell like ****)


Anyways.....you should check it out it has alto of info too

Answer 4

I think catfish eat off the bottom of the pond. Do you have the sinking kind of pellets?

Answer 5

add some feedder fish and give the catfish time to get use to your pond channel cats are predatory catfish.

Answer 6

when they are hungry they will eat anything