For a long time I fed the 32% protein feed to my fish. I then last year changed to 36% and I thought I had really stepped up in my knowledge. As I read more about the feed I realized I had probably made only a baby step of improvement. I now hope to make another step this year by ordering the aquamax 400. It is 3/32 compared with the 3/16 size of the 36% food. I hope to make a smooth change in the food with no feeder problems. I have the ADF 75. I must be very slow upstairs to of fed that many feathers so maybe my learning curve is improving. The way I see this change is I can feed a lot less food with the higher protein. It should be easier on my back also. Do you see any problems that I have missed?

Since this is your 2nd, 3rd or more year for the pond I suggest you get the 500 (5D05,3/16") and 600 (5D06,9/32") bags of pellets. Mix them together proportionally to accomodate the size ranges of your fish. Larger fish of 6"+ will prefer the 5D06 pellets. FYI the 400 - 5D04 is a 3/32" pellet.

deaner:

I feed both of those feeds (500 and 600) although not at the same time. When feeding straight 500, I had to get a reducer plate for my ADF75 because it was throwing too much food even tho it was set on the lowest setting. I think if you mix them, you won't have that problem.

If you do decide to feed 500 straight, give me a shout and I can tell you what size hole I ended up going with.

deaner as mentieond recently in another thread, if your goal is to grow more lbs of bluegill for bass growth 36% is economicial choice of Purina Game Fish Chow. If top end BG growth then aquamax.

Thanks everyone, now I will proceed on and order the feed hopefully today. It does mean a lot to get the feed back so a person can make a better decision---thanks.

A controlled experiment with bluegill growth rates comparing Game Fish Chow and AquaMax would be interesting.

I started feeding GFC and converted to A/M. What I noticed is that bluegill would not eat as much GFC as they would A/M. So the chain of events was I started out feeding GFC and then switched to A/M. Bluegill finished eating the five second portion of A/M much sooner than they had the GFC. Then when I mixed it, which I did for two or three bags, the fish would pick out the A/M and eat it before and instead of the GFC. Or if I threw a coffee can of each out they finished the "better" feed faster. They obviously perferred the taste of A/M. I theorize they might gain more weight on A/M, not because it was a "better" feed in terms of protein, but because they like it better, perhaps more of them ate it, and ate more of it, hence gaining more weight.

I now feed a mixture of A/M 500 and 600.

I probably only feed eight or ten bags per year at a difference in price of approximately $8 to $10. Therefore my decision is whether it is worth an extra $80 +- per year to maximize growth. Since I spend much more than that on pond maintenance per year I personally perfer to get the most growth that I can.

Bing

Bing I did a similar test and found just the opposite. Mine ate GFC better. I still use both and up the % AM in the fall. The other advantage is the mixed sizes of GFC so even the little BG can eat. Now the LMB and HSB like the AM 600 better.

There are several studies that show 32% is plenty of protein for BG and IIRC no significant growth advantage to feeding higher % protein levels. I can dig those out if you like.

Deaner be sure your 75-D will throw AM 600 without jamming first.

Eric: Thanks for that feedback. If the research indicates GFC produces the same weight gain, or a similar amount I'd be interested. Otherwise I am perfectly happy feeding as I do. Putting an ounce (or whatever weight) into a bluegill rather than something less than that amount, because they don't like the taste or smell, will surely put on more weight than if they ate less.

Bing

I will check and see.

This thread has really opened up the thought line and is good reading if you do not desire to place to much emphasis on the protein per cent only. I will try the 500 and 600 in about 2 weeks. I feel the 32 % and feathers is misleading and should be clarified as to the fact if this is true and if it is satisfactory as far as fish food. Perhaps I have not done as much reading on this topic as I do have a tendency to be rather lax at times. I do wish to thank everyone for their input as this has been educational.

This would be easy experiment since GFC and AM both Purina products. I woudl be willing to tie up 3 of my 4 ponds to test it out for a season. I would also like to see several brands tested. You can not tell what is in the feed from reading a bag so only real way to tell is fish growth. This would take into account paltaibility digestibility protein lipid content etc etc. So anyone got about 20 small ponds they are willing to stok bluegill for one season and see what happens,