My fish taught me a lesson in the last 24 hours, I hope this helps somewhere along the way.
I have Tilapia, same brood, but separated. One branch lives in the wild (my pond), the other is in a confined environment (i.e. 90 Gal. aquarium)
The wild outdoor fish will take a cricket almost instantly, if they can get it first. There is problem # 1. Bluegill may not see it first, but they are much more aggressive and eat it first. Tilapia do not strike their food, they swim up to it and try to gently inhale it. If there is any resistance, they back off.
Problem # 2, The controlled Tilapia in an aquarium never really survive / fight for their food, they get fed daily, pellets. They have no desire to eat a live cricket.
When a cricket is introduced into the aquarium, the Tilapia seem interested, may nibble, but do not eat. The cricket has to be retrieved and put back into the "cricket house".
It appears that the elements in this case are telling me that "conditioned" fish act in predictable manners. Also, there is a lot to be said about "surviving on your own". The fish that are fed daily, want the same food. Could this have a correlation between feeders and hard to catch fish ?
reason 1: The feeder fed fish want and eat the same food every day.
reason 2: The aggressive fish know what the "predictable" fish will do (i.e. bgill eating pellets) and will eat at the same time. Their dinner bell is also when the feeder goes off, but for a completely different reason.
Comments of any nature are encouraged....
