I got a pond

[Cory Earhart]

i got a pond that is three years old and i got coppernose bg and hybrid bg, i want to get them big. What food should i use?? i got floating fish food now but i think that is taking longer then i want, i heard that corn and wheat works good but i dont know, What do u guys think?

[Walt Foreman]

Tony is 100% correct when he points out that other factors besides supplemental food are key.  Primary among these would be to have lots of predators - do you have a lot of small bass in your pond, Cory?  A high density of predators so that the bluegill population stays thinned out to where the few bluegill that aren't eaten as fry or fingerlings have much more food each to eat, is essential for growing trophy bluegill.

[dick tabbert]

Good stuff Tony it always interesting all we have to do is have the mind set to do it.

[Tony Livingston]

Food may be the most important thing required to grow big Bluegills, but there are certainly other factors that come into play. Think of it like a jigsaw puzzle, with food being the largest piece. Even though it's the biggest, you still can't see the whole picture until all the other pieces are connected. Every piece needs to be in place, and interlocked to make the puzzle complete.

Water quality, aquatic vegetation present, predator/prey relationship, availability of natural forage, genetics, and yes, supplemental feed, all play a part.

Take a look over at Pondboss, they're good people and they know their stuff.

Try here:http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1...

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

The right feed is key, as Walt suggests. When they grew Sumo wrestlers in ancient times, entire districts of Japan would go hungry so their local hero got "the right stuff."

Also, patience is key. It takes a while to produce whopping big fish. Do you know what the growth rate is for your fish, in your locale and how much weight they should be putting on month to month for the quantity of feed given? In other words 10 lbs of feed will produce a fish with "X" amount of meat. People who raise other livestock have this information on the tip of their tongue. Maybe your fish are doing fine, and you just dont know it?

[Walt Foreman]

To answer your question, neither corn nor wheat will grow bluegill as fast as a fishmeal-based food.  A study was done a couple years ago in which decent growth was attained with a prepared fish food that incorporated meat and blood as sources of protein, but that's a prepared fish food that still was formulated specifically for bluegill.  You'll get a fraction of the growth with just straight corn or wheat that you would with a premium fish food.

[Walt Foreman]

Make sure you're feeding a high-protein food that's at least 40% protein - it can make the difference between reaching your goals and not reaching them.  Silver Cup is a better food than Aquamax, and they're also much easier to deal with as a company; but you may not be able to find a dealer in your area, in which case Cargill is also a good food.  I sell Silver Cup but it would cost a lot for shipping to where you are unless you bought twenty bags at a time.

[dick tabbert]

Cory here is a site that my help.

 http://www.aquamaxbass.com/com_01.html

Also check out Pond Boss and on BBG join (Your Pond) group. There will be some helpful things there also.