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Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,319
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,319 |
I was feeding the other day and I noticed all the grass carp came and started eating the pellets with the rest of the fish. I also had a turtle come on in and join the party and eat the pellets. Is this normal behavior? Will the grass carp stop eating grass?
In Dog Beers, I've had one.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,055 Likes: 277
Moderator Lunker
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Moderator Lunker
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 16,055 Likes: 277 |
My GC ate the pellets occasionally.
Turtles don't take any training. They don't get enough to worry about.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1 |
Grass carp love pellets. My experience is that they will not ever entirely stop eating vegetation, but will probably get a greater and greater percentage of their nutrition from pellets. Now if you love to eat grass carp like I do, and can harvest them like I can, then this isn't all bad, but I believe that Meadowlark's experience is that you'll get a much better result from smaller grass carp that aren't eating pellets. I hope he'll add his opinion here on how to maximize the vegetation eating potential of grass carp.
I'm just now learning about this, but apparently the triploid grass carp are smaller and shorter lived than the diploid version, which could prove to be important information when it comes to managing grass carp populations so you don't end up with a bunch of big, lazy grass carp slurpin' pellets all day long.
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
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Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,075
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,075 |
Bruce,
My experience absolutely agrees with your statements...small grass carp are far superior vegetarian consumers than large grass carp.....further, in my ponds, only the large grass carp come to the feeders regularly. My experience says that the useful life of a grass carp in my ponds (useful life defined in terms of weed control) is limited to three years.
Because of that, I "replace" grass carp as they get to a size where their main interest appears to be pellet food.
Regarding turtles, DD may be right about them not consuming large amounts of pellets, but at $22 per bag for high performance Rangen feed that I transport many miles to the ranch, I don't have any feelings of friendliness toward pellet eating turtles.
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