Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Stupid bluegill

Why do my idiot bluegills spit almost every single Aquamax 600 pellet they eat back out? I have tried soaking them before feeding, with no help. They tear up my Aquamax LM pellets like crazy, if they can get them before the LMB. The LMB do not spit the pellets out nor do my YP, on the contrary, as soon as the BG spit a pellet a LMB or YP swoops in before the pellet can even hit the surface.

This really irritates me for some reason, like when I make dinner for my kids and they whine "I don't like that!".

Idiot fish.

Thanks for listening to my rant

Try AM 500. The 600 might be a bit too large for them.

I'v already written on here about my bluegills. They spit out half of the Big Strike fish food I throw in and the pellets sink to the bottom. It drives me crazy!

In my small forage pond, the BG prefer GSF over Amax. Try it.

I dont like to mess with the 500 because then the LMB waste all day eating 50 pellets each when they could be hammering the bigger pellets.

Yesterday I let the pellets almost turn to total mush before feeding and it seemed to help. These brats will eat this food or go hungry!

Rex, Purina said they saw faster growth in RBT on 500 than 600 due to them being able to fit more pellets in their stomach.

Why don't you feed a mixture of LMB food,, 500, 600?

Man these BG are going for these LMB pellets like they have never gone for any pellets before. Ten BG ramming into LMB for pellets, no kidding. The BG have always been the last to feed but this year they have had enough I guess. I might pick up a bag of 500 in a couple weeks but wont the extra protein in the LMB pellets and 600 result in more growth?

Hey all, don't blame the fish for not liking what you feed them.

Be glad you can get good quality food to try. I've been trying for over two years to find a Purina dealer within 50 miles of me where I can get Aquamax. As of this afternoon -- still no luck, and there is a Purina dealer within five miles of where I'm currently posting this from. Worse than that, this year, I can't even get our local Southern States co-op to get anything other than Big Strike -- and I want Li'l Strike, since I can't get Aquamax.

We have tens of thousands of ponds in our area, and we can't get fish food producers to support us.

Rex, both 500 and 600 is made from the same formula, the only difference is the pellet size.

I just want to say that I finally found a place that will order Aquamax for me, and they are only 36 miles away! Berryville Farm Supply, in Berryville, VA is an old-time feed store. It is off the beaten path, between Winchester, VA and Leesburg, VA. Going up the steps into the store is like walking back into time. The petite and gracious southern lady at the main counter was quite senior to me.

When I asked if they could get Aquamax, she politely asked "which kind?" I told her "500." She used a black 1950s style dial telephone to confirm that it would be in next Wednesday's shipment.

I love Virgina and West Virgina.

Senior to you?

Wow, 54 and still working at the feed store!

As I alluded, this was a very genteel southern lady. I'd say she has least 30 years seniority on my youthfulness! We all can only hope we can be anywhere near her health when we reach maturity. She didn't have hearing aids or glasses.

-- ah, geeze! Now you guys have me wondering if she was only 30. She could have just aged prematurely because of youthful indiscretion. Naw! Even DD1, at his age he looks ....

-- ah geeze, for a second time! I apologize. I've hijacked the "stupid" thread.

Let's get back to business.

My bluegill are smarter than your bluegill!

Everyone should have the chance to experience an original, old time feed mill. The ones that actually grind your feed to order on the premises. None of these, "big box farm and tractor stores" that you see popping up nowadays.

I'm talking wooden floors, pot bellied stoves, overhead silo storage for shelled corn, flat pulley belt driven equipment, antique Fairbanks platform scales, and 2" of white dust on everything.

The last one I know of around here still has a coke machine that dispenses those little 6 or 8 oz. glass bottles, and in the winter the floor is littered with peanut shells, from everyone dropping them in their cokes.

Rural Americana, Hoosier style.

Amish?

Back in the 70s when I worked as a Loss Control Engineer for an insurance company. The company insured grain elevators and feed mills.

One day I got a inspection request to check out a feed mill that a local agent wanted to insure. To my surprise the feed grinding and handling equipment was all run by flat leather belts powered by a water wheel from a dammed up stream.

Needless to say there was nothing OSHA or NFPA approved about the place. Coverage denied! The feed mill went out of business shortly thereafter. I think that was more about the 80 year old owner/manager deciding to retire than any insurance coverage issue.

As a kid, I would go with my grandfather into town to have his feed ground. The mill was of the type that lifted the entire truck into the air, in a near vertical position, to allow the ear corn to slide out into the underground portion of the mill. By the time the bed was empty and the truck had returned to earth, all the fuel had drained out of the float bowl, into the engine and flooded it. We all knew it was going to happen every time, as did the employees of the mill.
Everyone would push the truck off to the side, out of the way, and Grandad and I would go down to the diner and have lunch. By the time lunch was over, the engine would restart, we would load our freshly ground feed,(in bags of course), and head back to the farm.

I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

It's sad to see what was once an integral part of small town America, fall to the wayside.

Wow, I have never seen a real feed mill.

Rex, I was watching my BG feed yesterday. I mixed AM500 and Game Fish Chow. The larger BG would eat anything I threw but some 1.5 inch ones near the shore would ignore the AM and only eat on the GFC. That's also the way everything is in my forage pond. They won't even mess with the AM Fry Food but will immediately start pecking at the GFC. If I only try to feed AM, they pretty well ignore it.

Like you said, STUPID BLUEGILLS.

See I was thinking about trying some AM 500 but if they do not eat it, that would be a ton of money down the drain.

Also I have a large population of CC and GSF so that may be a waste to feed them AM 500.

Any thoughts?

MRHELLO I don think the 500 would be a waste of money because if you have other species in your pond they will probably gobble it up if the BG do not.

I am just glad I am trying to grow big bass in my pond instead of big BG, because, well, they are stupid. I hope Bruce doesnt see this thread lol

The larger BG eat the AM500 very well. But the smaller ones prefer the GFC.

I don't know what all the fuss is about.

I've been telling you people that BG are stupid for almost five years.