when do new fish start feeding?

[len pierce]

After loosing multiple groups of fish which were feeder gold fish( I recently learned about that)  I changed the water, added ammonia for a few weeks which disappeared every few days without a significant spike in nitrites but with 40 plus ppm of nitrates and now have added 6 bluegill from a nearby lake.  They appear to be doing well after 24 hours.  The pH of the lake and the irrigation water I use from a nearby river was the same and the temp of the lake was 72 degrees which is what my tank is  and the ammonia was less than 0.25ppm when I added the fish and now is between that and 0.5ppm according the color chart.  How long should I wait before feeding them and what is the best food for bluegill.  I caught them using worms but I don't want to continue feeding them that.  Any comments would be appreciated.  Their size is 5in to 11in.

[aubrey sloan]

I have small tilapia.I feed African cichlids pellets.the pellets come in different sizes.As soon as i get a chance I am going to look into the feed stores,sure they have something for pond fish.

[Aquamaple]

I have hybrid blugill in my AP FT. I started feeding them about a week after they were introduced. To be honest, they would have been more than happy to eat that first day.I actually only really waited because 1. my FT exploded with alae and 2. my fish feed had not yet arrived by mail. The stuff I bought is the AquaOrganic feed Sylvia sells. It is a semi-floating pellet. My BG love it. It only comes in one pellet size, so I crush about 3/4 what I feed for the 2"-4" fish, and leave the full size pellets for my 4"-7" fish. Sounds like you could start feeding them. Watch your Nitrites and ammonia. If your Nitrosomonas colony is not grown enough, it will take longer to consume the ammonia and convert it to Nitrites. Likewise, if the Nitrospira colony is underdeveloped, it will take longer for the Nitrites to be consumed and nitrates created. Since ammonia and nitrites are both very bad for your fish, my opinion is to start slow. Stop feeding if ammonia gets over 1ppm. I personally like to start with some arbitrary small amount, weigh it on a scale; the next days measurements determine how many more grams I add. (I feed once a day, in the evenings at this point.) If you are adding food for the fish and it seems the nitrates never rise, it is possible your plants are simply using as fast as your colonies can produce it.

[len pierce]

Thanks for the comments.  I will give them a few days to adjust and then slowly introduce food.  It's good to know that bluegill like AquaOrganic feed.