Question:
When we say fish aren't going to eat pellets as agressively, are we saying they will eat fewer pellets, or the same amount over a great time?
After all, fish probably only have to feed on pellets for 30 minutes a day to meet all of their nutritional needs.
My opinion is they'll eat fewer over a long period of time.
The amount of calories left in a fish at any one time is the results of the energy they've consumed minus the energy (calories) they've burned hunting and living. The rest is stored as body weight. (Reminds me of the story of our old friend Ray.)
Just as a fish is dead with one minute of zero oxygen, to be super fish it's got to maximize calories every day, week, month, year - for its entire life.
My guess is that 'to meet their nutritional needs' is a significantly different number than to maximize their growth potential. Somewhere between is 'to eat enough to get fat' and make most pond owners happy. This is why I think pellets are just phenomenal, they're such a benefit over a normal 'natural' situation that small difference are not noticed.
If, for example, over the long-run 3 pellets a day worth of energy meet the individual fish needs (Wr 80), and 5 would give them normal body size, 7 makes them chunky and have Wr of 120, and 10 would be 140. To me its those few pellets a day in perpetuity because of any type of behavior change that would bug me. (especially if I was borderline obsessive about the other stuff in my pond or the fish genetics and was trying to grow a 3lb BG, oh wait, I am)
