Scott, if your BG have been in the pond that long, and not being aggressive to feed on pellets, two things come to mind. Either the BG have plenty of forage materials, or they are out fed by the other groups. If the new formulation and attractants are added, the other groups may still be more aggressive than the BG. If that's the case, you may need to shift your feeding supplement to something more natural based on the time of year. Cheap mealworms, waxies, and crickets perhalf?
Leo, I think it's more of the former rather than the latter. There are still pellets floating around after the LMB are full. If I feed straight AM500, the LMB aren't as interested and leave enven more pellets uneaten. I can see BG swimming around pecking at the pellets, and even sucking in and then spitting out the pellets, although the pellets are small enough for them to eat. This year the LMB should be large enough to easily eat Purina LMB sized pellets. In a friends pond, even with LMB and HSB jumping all over the pellets, the BG are feeding vigorously on the pellets that are pushed away from the area where the larger predators are feeding.
The BG in the pond don't exibit the body characteristics that BG do that feed heavily on pellets (helmet head, thick bodies). They have some of them, but not to that extent. Then again, it could be a genetic thing too. I have introduced some BG that have better genetics, and were pellet trained, but I'm not sure how many actually survived LMB predation.
