Feed training fish?

laughingwatr · 09-05-2008, 02:30 PM

I've been trying to get the fish in one of my ponds trained to feed. The pond has mainly bass and bluegill with a hand full of catfish. I drive by the dam mutiple times a day so I was feeding them a couple times a day for a month with nobody eating. Every once in a while one would eat a sinking pice of food but that is about it. I'm using floating catfish food and when I trained the fish in one of my parents ponds they eventually started to eat and ended up going crazy every time I fed them. These fish won't cooperate, does anybody have any advice?

laughingwatr · 09-05-2008, 07:16 PM

OK, I have some questions for you. I am assuming the fish in the pond are adult fish? They have not been on feed before? They are a lot easier to train to take feed when you start when they are young and raise them on artificial feed. Even then when you put them in a pond with natural prey they may be more likely to eat the natural prey.

What kind of feed are you using? How old is it? The fish may not be readily taking the feed because it is not the right size, does not taste like they think food should taste, etc. Feed also can get old and loose some of its "flavor" or oiliness which could be more appealing to the fish. I have been told by our hatchery supervisor that fish culturists have been known to grind up liver and mix their feed in that to make it more tasty and train the fish to eat it.

Those are some ideas. See what you can do with that and if I can help, feel free to ask more questions.

Daryl Bauer
Lakes and Reservoirs Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
daryl.bauer@nebraska.gov

P.S. Please feel free to share this message with others if you wish.

Daryl,
The feed is old and I thought this might be the problem. Once in a while a fish would try to eat and spit it out. There are all size of fish and they will swim up to the feed but not eat. I will try some new feed before it gets too cold.
Thanks!

MA Machine · 09-23-2008, 01:23 PM

I've also been trying to feed train with very little success so far. Here's some tips I've found through various people: Always feed same time(s) of the day, be consistent. Pre-soak your pellets so they are somewhat soft when you throw them (Pellets you are going to use that feeding). Flavor your fish food with the run off from a can of tuna (Pellets you are going to use that feeding). Use pieces of bread along with pellets. Buy some feed trained fish so they may be the "teachers" for the others. Capture and pen some bluegills and feed train them, release them after they start eating pellets. I've pretty much given up for the year. Next spring I'm going to buy a small auto-feeder and give it another try. I guess some fish feed train very fast and other fish no so fast. I have a bunch of slow learners.

Here's a link to some more information on Big Bluegill.com
Feed Training Bluegills - Bluegill - Big Bluegill

09-05-2008, 02:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
laughingwatr Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Niobrara River Posts: 104 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Feed training fish? I've been trying to get the fish in one of my ponds trained to feed. The pond has mainly bass and bluegill with a hand full of catfish. I drive by the dam mutiple times a day so I was feeding them a couple times a day for a month with nobody eating. Every once in a while one would eat a sinking pice of food but that is about it. I'm using floating catfish food and when I trained the fish in one of my parents ponds they eventually started to eat and ended up going crazy every time I fed them. These fish won't cooperate, does anybody have any advice?

09-23-2008, 01:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
MA Machine 2008 Catch and Continue Finalist Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lincoln Posts: 411 Thanks: 42 Thanked 38 Times in 23 Posts	I've also been trying to feed train with very little success so far. Here's some tips I've found through various people: Always feed same time(s) of the day, be consistent. Pre-soak your pellets so they are somewhat soft when you throw them (Pellets you are going to use that feeding). Flavor your fish food with the run off from a can of tuna (Pellets you are going to use that feeding). Use pieces of bread along with pellets. Buy some feed trained fish so they may be the "teachers" for the others. Capture and pen some bluegills and feed train them, release them after they start eating pellets. I've pretty much given up for the year. Next spring I'm going to buy a small auto-feeder and give it another try. I guess some fish feed train very fast and other fish no so fast. I have a bunch of slow learners. Here's a link to some more information on Big Bluegill.com Feed Training Bluegills - Bluegill - Big Bluegill __________________ If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten. -- George Carlin

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09-05-2008, 07:16 PM	#2 (permalink)
laughingwatr Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Niobrara River Posts: 104 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	OK, I have some questions for you. I am assuming the fish in the pond are adult fish? They have not been on feed before? They are a lot easier to train to take feed when you start when they are young and raise them on artificial feed. Even then when you put them in a pond with natural prey they may be more likely to eat the natural prey. What kind of feed are you using? How old is it? The fish may not be readily taking the feed because it is not the right size, does not taste like they think food should taste, etc. Feed also can get old and loose some of its "flavor" or oiliness which could be more appealing to the fish. I have been told by our hatchery supervisor that fish culturists have been known to grind up liver and mix their feed in that to make it more tasty and train the fish to eat it. Those are some ideas. See what you can do with that and if I can help, feel free to ask more questions. Daryl Bauer Lakes and Reservoirs Program Manager Nebraska Game & Parks Commission daryl.bauer@nebraska.gov P.S. Please feel free to share this message with others if you wish. Daryl, The feed is old and I thought this might be the problem. Once in a while a fish would try to eat and spit it out. There are all size of fish and they will swim up to the feed but not eat. I will try some new feed before it gets too cold. Thanks!