My BG spawned about nine weeks ago. I have not seen any fry so far. How big should they be now? I see thousands of FHM young.

John, you should be on your third or fourth BG spawn by now. Your fry could be from 1" to still having egg sacs

I just obtained a sack of AM Grower 400 after many weeks on order. I wonder if the earliest spawn could be large enough to eat it?

I saw BG spawning nests on two occasions: early and late May, in water about a foot or so deep. I kept the water level stable during that time by pumping. Maybe they spawned a little deeper since then and I could not see the nests.

John, if they are big enough to spawn they should certainly be big enough to take feed.

I think my 1.5" fish peck on it and maybe eat it and the 2" fish are little pigs for it.

I'm about to run out and debating on getting another bag or not. I think it sure gets the smaller fish feed trained early.

Snrub,
I had to have the AM Grower 400 shipped from Springfield, Mo, through three different Farmer's Co-Op locations. Took about a month. Finally got it Saturday. $59 plus tax for 50 pounds. If I happen to be in Springfield on a weekday after a few more months, I will pick up another bag there, and avoid the hassle.

Dave, I was talking about this year's offspring, not the spawners.

How are your fish taking to the AM400?

Since I got my first bag, I have been amazed at how the small fish take to it.

For new pond owners with newly stocked fish, I think a bag of AM400 to get the fish started on would be a great idea. Even if they want to feed Optimal or some feed other than Aquamax later, if they have small fish they want to get trained to feed, the small fish (and even up to my 2#CC) love that "BB" sized AM400.

Snrub, what about the MVP?? Have you had any experience with that? We have some other fish in our pond..."bucket fish" our kids put in there. Not a huge number...maybe 15-20 the last year. BG and LMB

I ordered 2 bags that are supposed to be here today. I have had a hard time getting it in Paris. I plan on mixing AM 400, AM 500, and Optimal in the feeder.

I think I'm on my third bag feeding AM MVP. Here is a link to a thread where I took pictures of it.

Aquamax MVP

I see I did not answer Brian's question in that thread. No Brian there are no pellets in MVP as small as AM400. The smallest are about half way between AM400 and AM500. It is really quite surprising to me that there is such a great size difference between AM400 and AM500. But I would assume the idea is that fish grow so fast that they have no problem transitioning from 400 to the larger 500. I know 2# CC will hoover up the tiny AM400 if they get in close enough to shore where I feed it. They seem to love the stuff even though I try to keep them from it (kind of expensive feed for CC).

But as far as my experience with it, the fish eat it great. Of course they also ate AM500-600 mix great, they ate Optimal great, they ate the Cargill and Purena multi sized Sportfish feed great, they even eat various 32% floating and sinking catfish food great. In short, my fish do not seem to be picky eaters. But I have to believe the higher end feeds like Aquamax or Optimal are better for them and they likely gain better so I feed it. But my fish do not seem to complain unless I show up at the pond without feed. Then they sit close to the bank in shallow water and glare at me.

I'm a little concerned they are so hungry. I'm afraid maybe my forage base is getting ahead of my LMB and the LMB are not keeping up. My goal is a panfish pond so I should have plenty of hungry panfish size bass. But I do not seem to have that. I seem to have fewer, very well fed, larger LMB that do not like to be caught very easily, with low reproduction and few if any YOY. Meanwhile there are a gazillion BG that I have been trying to thin out the 6-8" size by making them table fare. But maybe I am just impatient and not giving my LMB the benefit of the doubt of their ability to spawn profusely and populate the pond. So I wait and observe. But I digress.

So to answer your question, my fish like the MVP and I will likely feed it from now on instead of a mix of AM500-600. It is very convenient to have the multiple sizes of feed in one bag.

I still have not observed any BG fingerlings or fry from this year's spawn. Still see thousands of FHM from their spawns. They swarm around the AM 400 pellets, but the only BG I see hitting are last fall's CNBG stockers, which are now about 5". I will put out a minnow trap, and see if I can get any little BG. I used a pool skimmer net to sweep through some weeds, but only netted small FHM.

John go out to the water about a hour after dark with a flashlight, and your pool net. I have found small fry and fingerlings seem to hang very close to shore in the over night hours.

I put my 1/4 inch mesh wire minnow trap out in about 18" of water, baited with chunks of dog food (fish food too small). Just took it up. In four hours I caught five BG from 3/4 inch to 1.5". Guess that proves a successful spawn. Edit: used a gallon glass trap this evening and trapped a few even smaller BG. I think these should be probably 6" to 7" in a year.