The availability of healthy and quality fish seed is one of the major factors determining the success of freshwater aquaculture. Effective nursery and rearing management practices are essential for improving survival, growth, and production efficiency during the early life stages of cultured fish. The present study evaluated the nursery and rearing management practices of Catla catla under pond conducted at Pochampad Village, Mupkal Mandal, Nizamabad District, Telangana, India. The study focused on the transition of feeding behaviour from endogenous nutrition to external feeding and the role of supplementary feed management during different developmental stages. Newly-hatched larvae (6–8 mm) used yolk sac reserves to provide their dietary needs first. Natural food organisms, primarily plankton again provided the basic nutrition to support early growth and development until complete yolk sac absorption occured. When the fish passed through successive spawn (8 to 10 mm), fry (12 to 24 mm), advancing fry (25-50mm) and fingerling stages (50–100 mm in total length) treatment with supplementary feeding was implemented using ingredients available locally, such as coconut oil cake or rice bran. Fish were fed once daily, with management decisions tailored around fish size, feeding activity and culture conditions. Nursery and rearing pond system (10 × 5 × 1.5 m) was managed properly through standardized techniques including proper preparation, water quality maintenance, continuous fish health examination as well as controlled feeding technique. Our results suggest that natural pond production and the effects of supplementary feeding can synergistically promote C. catla seed growth and survival when used consecutively over time. The wisdom of stage-specific feed approaches, improved utilization of the available feeds and a holistic pond management strategy is demonstrated for successful carp seed production.