Has anyone come up with a way to consistently and evenly bust up the large largemouth pellets for their smaller fish? I'd rather use it for my yellow perch, smallmouth and bluegills but of course at it's normal size it's to big.

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AP,

Not so sure whacking hard pellets would be the same as whacking vegetables but it make work -- just needs replacing at a certain point.

I suppose I could try hydrating the pellets in a zip lock bag like I do the other Aquamax and see how that works.

Cecil, why largemouth pellets, isn't AM 600 large enough?

It's not the size. I get a better response to what's in the LMB feed and if it truly is less in carbs and similar to a them eating a rainbow trout meal, I'm thinking it may produce better performance in my bluegills and yellow perch.

Something's missing in ALL BRANDS of the normal commercial carnivore feeds that were developed for trout as ovary development is lacking in my perch vs. all natural feed. Don't get me wrong I still grow large perch and the eggs are sufficient but read on to see my point.

My former yellow perch producer no longer feeds his broodstock pellets. He plants his broodstock perch in a pond that has been allowed to be overrun with fatheads and crayfish and says he sees a big difference in the ovary size of the females. The ovaries look like they are going to explode vs. the so so size in pellet fed fish just like mine.

Our local wild caught perch have massive ovaries even in early winter. Here's an example of what they look like here, although it's from some lake in PA or NY. (Got it off of Ice Shanty.com)





Compare that to one of my female perch in March. (Bottom fish)




Even my "unofficial" state record perch out of the pond didn't have that big of ovaries compared to the above wild caught fish (top picture):

There is a lot of info on YP feed in the aquaculture area. Never heard a report that there is a reproductive problem if just on pellets. Interesting. The limited studies I have read indicate that YP don't need as much protein or fat as trout. I will keep my eyes open for info on this. I do agree that while pellets are good and getting better they are not IMO a replacement for natural food.

I didn't know the LMB feed was a different formulation I thought it was just a large size so they could fill up with less energy expended.
I guess mother nature still knows best, but it's surprising how different the size of the ovaries are in the wild perch vs pellet fed perch.
Even though wild female YP have larger ovaries will this translate into faster growing and larger YP?

My experience with the trout in the pond is they prefer natural forage and eat very little of the AM600, and with the large supply of GSH they grow very well but their full potential isn't known because of my past problems with winterkill, maybe this will be the year.

Perhaps but I haven't seen one produced just for yellow perch yet that is not just a "one size fits all" diet for carnivores.



I'm not saying there is a reproductive "problem." My point is ovary performance isn't as good as it could be on pellets. If my former perch producer says so I believe him as he is one heck of a knowledgable guy when it comes to producing perch. He's also an Ohio State University extension agent.



Perhaps I shouldn't post this, but the largest yellow perch food producer in the Midwest is in Indiana and the president is on my BOD of the Indiana Aquaculture Association. Even though Purina Mills has a mill located nearby, they don't seem interested in producing a custom diet for his large and expanding yellow perch operation. They are gong to double capacity in the fall and they are already the largest yellow perch producer. However Silver Cup is.

I believe Purina Mills is missing a golden opportunity as Silver cup is considering setting up a mill in Indiana if the demand is there. Silver Cup is very popular with fish producers in the midwest but the problem is the shipping costs shipping it from Utah. My last bag of Aquamax was almost 3 months old which i was not happy about. Not the first time.

If the demand for feed here in Indiana is not here now it will be. We are looking to explode in fish farms in the next 5 years to 10 years. Even overseas operations as in a Norwegian salmon farm were checking out the state recently.

The LMB feed is definitely a different formlation according to their advertisement and an article I read in Pond Boss.

Just FWIW and somewhat related... I attended a meeting in Carbondale IL area a couple months ago for people interested in fish farming. Some people from SIU fisheries department presented and I was seriously impressed. If I recall correctly, they were trying different feed compositions and measuring all kinds of things like growth, meat firmness/flavor/deterioration, cost per pound of growth and more. The men there obviously knew their stuff; but that lab lady really blew me away. Feed composition definitely makes a difference.

How often does SIUC have these? If they have another one start a post on here please!

I think annually; but am not sure. Will post upon hearing of next one.