Originally posted by Norm Kopecky:
Cecil, if raising a world record LMB hasn't been achieved yet, there must be some other limiting factor. That limiting factor might be the size of the area the fish are being raised in. When some plants (bonsai) and fish (aquariums) are confined to small areas, they don't grow very large. Might this be happening with LMB? What do you think?
On another subject, I send all of my Science News magazines to Steve Barlow who is an outstanding young biologist at Lower Suwannee NWR in Florida. However, if you wish, I could send you the New Scientist magazines once a month. Let me know if you want them.
Norm,
First of all I hope I did not insult you by saying, "To say the third largest perch ever entered in state records of the United States was just due to feeding is really nuts." I did not intend to do so. I value your imput on this site and would never intentionally insult you or anyone else here. Unlike other sites I frequent everyone on here is quite the lady or gentleman I hope it stays that way.
My point was no one has apparently raised a new world record bass, and they have most certainly tried it from all angles. I said that because a few posts gave the insinuation that it could be done easily in a "cattle tank" or just by feeding. It just isn't so.
Bob Lusk will tell you there are lots of factors in growing really big bass and he does so in his books. You'd probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than growing a new world record bass in a controlled environment.
One my newest aquaculture books states that although in the past it was thought the actual space of a fish is what is limiting the ultimate size of the fish, it's actually ammonia by products from the fish that are the limiting factor in aquariums etc.(water quality) If an area where the fish is confined is small than it's easier for ammonia to build up. It's that simple. Apparently the ammonia byproducts are not high enough to be lethal but they are just high enough to provide just enough stress to keep growth down.
If you look at well run RAS (recirculating aquaculture systems), and large marine aquariums where ammonia levels are kept down, you will see the fish do get quite large in brood tanks and comparable in size to their wild counterparts. I've seen some massive groupers in Aquarium displays in Florida that were much smaller when first brought in. Apparenently the facilities were doing a good job of recirculating the water and/or they were running in fresh seawater.
No need to send the magazine. I may just subscribe to it as it's quite interesting. I sure appreciate you sending the copies.
