Any rule of thumb as to how big bass need to be to consume AquaMax Largemouth?
I stocked 8-10" f1 tigers back in October. I'm currently feeding a mix of AquaMax MVP and GFC. The ones that are still on feed are growing nicely.
I was wondering the same thing. Following...
Hydrate your feed and then about any size bass will consume.
I would bet as soon as they could get it in their mouth. They likely can already. Throw a few out and see if you have any takers. If you have any trouble getting AM Largemouth pellets Optimal makes a Hand Throw feed that is about the same size made for bass. They will deliver a single 40# bag to your door.
Aquamax Largemouth Optimal Hand Throw feed
I’ve had 10” redears eat AM Largemouth. I’m positive 8-10” largemouth can.
Thanks for the responses. I have a call into my Purina dealer to see if they can get the AquaMax largemouth. If they can't, I'll give the optimal hand throw a try. I'll let you know how things turn out.
Here is a thread with some pictures of comparative feed sizes.
Feed size pictures
AquaMax Largemouth is on order. Bass and bluegill are feeding like crazy. We have a pretty significant cold front moving through this week, so I expect feeding to slow down. Hopefully, the new feed will be in the following week so I can being trying it out. I'll keep you posted.
The AuqaMax Largemouth finally arrived. It looked huge compared to anything in the MVP. About 30 minutes before the feeder was set to go off last night, I went down and did some hand feeding. I threw in a LMB pellet followed by a handful of MVP on top of it. The LMB pellet was ignored while the MVP disappeared quickly. I began "cracking" the MVP pellets like you would 2 pecans in your hand and throwing in some smaller pieces. It didn't take long until the bass and bluegill began taking those pieces. It shouldn't take long to get them trained to take the full-sized pieces.
I'm starting with LMB too. My first bag was very oily. Oil seeped out of the bag. I got a second and it was oily but not as bad. The Purina rep told the feed store this was normal but I believe the rep has no idea about Aquamax. My feed store guy is learning, but I'm his only customer that'll pay $42 for a bag of fish food.
The gills hit it hard and pellets often pop into the air. They can't actually eat it. Everybody likes the MVP.
The bass kinda wander by it, check it out, sniff it, then maybe suck it down. Given ten minutes it's all gone. My bass are just under a year old so it's still a big bite.
It's been a week and I've had some success with breaking the pieces up, but not as much as I had hoped. The bass are more hesitant to take the irregular chunks than the bluegill are. Any chunk 1/2" or larger gets ignored by all. I did a little research on Purina's web site this morning and can't find any feed that is between 9/32" and 3/4". Does anyone know of any alternatives in a 3/8" size that I could use to train these bass on up?
Optimal makes a bass pellet food food that has a 3/8" pellet (9mm) diameter. You may have to gradually increase the sizes of the broken pellets to get the bass accustomed to eating the full size Aquamax Largemouth pellets. Often fish need to be conditioned to accept a new size or type of fish food.
Hydrating LMB pellets helps fish handle it, after a few weeks I start throwing it in dry and they take to it immediately - hope this helps.
Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I don't believe hydrating would help in this case, they are cautious to even touch it because it looks so different (shape/size). Of the ones I've seen take it in, none have spit it back out. I believe I'll o order a bag of the Optimal and give it a try.
The Optimal Bass food came in . Even though it's about twice the size of the largest pellet in the MVP, the bass and largest bluegill loved it. Once they're on it for a few weeks, I'll try to mix in the AquaMax Largemouth again. It surprises me that Purina doesn't offer any pellets closer to 1/2" in size.
All my fish have eaten pellets since they were fingerlings, so they are completely acclimated. I hand feed AquaMax LMB regularly. My 14" bass take it readily; the <12" don't try. The larger ones put on quite a show, bumping each other away, jumping out of the water they were going so fast, etc. I had a bass fling a BG that was in the way clean out of the water. I also feed AquaMax 600 (mostly from feeder). Everyone tries to eat it all, but the first ~20-30 LMB pellets are always claimed by the 2 lb+ boys and girls. The big BG can pull a LMB pellet under water but eventually release it, and all BG hit it to break it apart. The BG love when I crush LMB pellets and sprinkle it in. They will be right under my hand and vacuum up the crumbles. It sinks pretty quickly and they seem to like staying under. They are fine if my hand is in the water right over them, so it isn't a proximity issue. Feeding time is always great fun. Up here, our water is still quite cold, so feeding is still a relatively small amount.
I wanted to give a quick update. After few weeks of having the bass and largest bluegill eat the Optimal Bass, I began throwing in a few pieces of whole Aquamax Largemouth into the mix. Some of the bass are beginning to take it too.
The largest of the originally stocked bass are now at 11-11.5". One LMB pellet seems to be about all they can consume per meal. Thanks for all the input.
I know I am late to this conversation but can anyone tell me if there is a part number for the AM Largemouth fish food. I would like to try some for my bigger HSB. Or do you just order it by name surely there is a part number.
thx,
RC
RC, any Purina dealer should know what Aquamax Largemouth is, or at least how to call it in.
my seed and feed guy calls it Aquamax LMB feed and has it listed that way on his price list for his casher's. And my hsb are all over it
