I thought maybe you would keep the largest ones separate to try and get them as large as possible, and use the smaller ones to spawn.
You have mentioned before that sometimes you only feed once a day, is this your plan with the PS's.
AP,
The broodfish I collect via angling I am not allowed to sell so there is no point in trying to get them as large as possible other than for brood stock. In fact my DNR suggests I tag them so I don't resell them. (I have my doubts that is necessary as it would probably take at least 3 years to get the offspring large enough to be similar in size.) However I'll probably mark them by cutting off the first dorsal spine for a male and the second for a female if I can definitely tell the difference between the two.
I'm actually thankful I am allowed to use fish out of public waters for brood fish as in some states you aren't allowed to do that. For example in Bruce's state of Nebraska I was surprised to be told it's not legal to use fish from public waters for broodstock even if you catch them legally. The DNR official that told me this, wishes it was not that way as he says that the law does more harm than good. (I found this out when I dicussed what testing was necessary to import them into Nebraska.) Obviously if someone wants to start broodfish of some species to produce them for stocking in Nebraska, they have to get them outside of the state or region if not from private waters, which eventually pollutes the native gene stock. And those fish may not be as well adapted as the native stock.
I will probably feed the broodfish twice a day as they need to get as much feed in them as possible before spawning. It may end up being redworms etc. as I have my doubts how well they will train on artifical feed at an advanced age.
The fry and fingerlings I feed at least 3 times a day. If the pumpkinseed fry and fingerlings are anything like the bluegills they should be hungry all the time!
