Automatic Fish Feeders can really boost the size of your pond fish when used properly, but if care is not taken, they can also negatively affect your pond. Putting pellets in your pond increases the nutrient load, which can lead to excessive weed and algae growth. What’s worse, there’s no guarantee that fish will even eat the pellets. In general, if fish do not consume pellets within a few minutes of being in the pond, then they never will.
So what can you do to minimize the negative impacts while gaining the benefits of using an Auto-Feeder? Below are some tips:
- Only use an Auto-Feeder if you have fish that are already trained to eat pellets.
- If you have Bluegill that are untrained, feed them first by hand so you can control how many pellets go in the pond, and once they catch on, then begin using the Auto-Feeder.
- If you have Largemouth Bass that are untrained, you never will train them. Stock pellet trained bass from a Hatchery if you wish to use your Auto-Feeder to boost the size of bass.
- Initially set the feeder to put out the minimum amount of pellets once a day, either early or late. Most fish feed most aggressively on pellets at lower sun angles, like in the hours after sunrise or before sunset.
- Do not increase feeding amounts or frequency until you see all pellets being fully consumed within a couple minutes, and make sure that happens multiple days in a row.
- Set up feeder to feed from the side of the pond where the prevailing winds come from. For example, if you most commonly experience winds from the west, put the feeder on the west side of the pond so that pellets drift to the middle, increasing the likelihood of them being thoroughly consumed instead of hung up on shore.
- Make sure that the area in front of the feeder is free of debris and does not have thick weed or algae coverage. You want the fish to be able to easily get to all the pellets.
- It is better to have a smaller feeder that you fill more frequently, because when pellets get hot, they rapidly deteriorate.
- Store your pellets in a cool and dry place. Heat degrades nutritional value and moisture can create mold, and clog feeders.
- Feed pellets that are best suited for your fish. Low quality pellets do little more than fertilize your water, while high quality pellets really boost fish growth while minimizing nutrient loading in the pond.