Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Tryin to feed train LMB

Joey, Getting the larval bass to eat nonliving food will be a challenge, but since you have some experience with raising aquarium fish you just might be successful. Typically LMB are feed trained at 1.25"-2".

Early Life Fish Terminology (Young Of Year, YOY). Since you collected your LMB from a school that was guarded by the male the young were past the yolk larvae (prolarval) stage and were considered to be postlarvae (postlarva) or frequently called post yolk-sac larvae. When LMB larvae leave the nest they are at or beyond the swim up stage (0.5") and no yolk material is present - postlarvae. Once they develop a full complement of fins including any associated spines AND all the fin fold has disappeared they are called juveniles. Fish culturists often use these terms. Fry - fish up to the time when the yolk sac has been absorbed. Advanced fry - end of fry stage to one inch long. Fingerlings - term based on length - sometimes placed in size groups #1 = 1-1.9", #2 = 2-2.9", #3 = 3-3.9" and #4 = 4-4.9", etc. Juvenile - a fish in-between larvae and adult. Young - means a fish of the young-of-the year or a member of the 0 age group or the period from hatching to Jan 1.

I suggest that you move the "baby tank" into a small aquarium (2-5gal or similar container or wide mouthed fish bowl) so you can easily aerate the entire water column to a point that it produces a noticable rolling current throughout the tank/bowl. You will only need to increase the amount of stronger current during the actual feeding process/training. During nonfeeding periods just a very gentle aeration or none would be necessary. Try to feed several times a day, maybe every 2-4 hrs. The circulating current will keep the wetted powdered food in suspension so it appears active or alive to the larvae. If it appears alive or moving they are more apt to accept it.

Be sure to siphon the tank bottom daily to remove uneaten food. This will hopefully reduce the chances of water quality deterioration. Also do frequent partial water changes daily or every 2 days to maintain water quality while the larvae are in the small tank. Once you see the larvae accepting food then in a couple days you can probably move them back into a larger tank.

Try pulverizing the krill or other dried natural foods you have. Also try "blending up" an earthworm or some fish flesh to add with the powder to make it wet. I doubt very much that the larval LMB will accept floating powder from the water surface. Your best chance for limited success is to wet the food and try to keep it in suspension for 5 to 10 min at least during feeding times.

I have never worked with feeding game fish this small but have raised some zebra danios from eggs. I am considering trying to raise a few larval yellow perch to juvenile stage (full complement of fins). Let me know about your success rate and I may try it with a few perch. I was going to put my perch fry in a wide mouthed gallon jar and try to feed train them in it. I can easily get the water rolling in a gallon jar. I was going to use powdered krill and an earthworm "juice" as first foods.