The general consensus is -- you want fast growing well fed fish from the get go -- for optimum performance. That said, I had bluegills in a pond I was draining that were not on artificial feed, and had a body conformation that was significantly less than my typical feed trained hatchery fish I produce. In fact, looked rather thin. Add to this the pond was not fertilized and very clear. (These fish were unwanted reproduction due to bg escaping cage).
I gave several hundred to a friend for his new pond, and they seemed to have caught up as his biggest to date is 1 lb. 12 oz. Condello says he's seen them catch up too.
As you know "stunted" is a relative term. Their are severely stunted fish that are starved and their are fish that are a little smaller than they should be due to too much competition. I suspect the latter for the fish farm.
I once tried to get some severely stunted perch fingerlings to catch up in an RAS and they never did. Ended up pitching them.
I guess it "all depends." Some medium growth fish may out perform fast growing fish in the end as the fast growing fish may have a shorter lifespan. Then there's the fatty liver syndrome of fish that are heavily fed artifical feed.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 10/06/15 08:26 AM.
