Here's the latest. Went to the farm this morning with the intent of changing the feed of the yellow perch. I special ordered some floating Aquamax 400 (smaller size) with 45% protein to mix in with the sinking Ziegler feed. Every time I go to check on the tank, I drain the check valve and some cruddy pellets shoot out. I had observed that when I feed the perch, the Ziegler feed sinks slowly, and if they are hungry they will hit the Ziegler on the way down, but really aren't interested in it once it hits the bottom. The same holds true for hand feeding crawlers--if they see it on the way down they'll nail it, but once it hits the bottom it may be ignored for large periods of time. I'd like to get the fish entirely on floating for the following reasons.
1. Hopefully the food stays available for a longer time so that it all gets utilized.
2. Faster growth because of the previous.
3. More "esthetics" in watching the pellets eaten at the surface after I stock in my pond, so I hope they're trained on the floating.
4. Better able to determine correct feeding rates in the pond because I'll be able to see if all the food is eaten. If they're trained on a slow sink, then I may not know when in the fall to discontinue or decrease feed rates.
I also took out ten more perch to get the number down to 125 or so. These fish went in a 20 gallon tub with an aquarium aerator.
