I have found that fish eat hydrated pellets better than dry hard pellets. But if they have never eaten hydrated pellets they will and appear to eat dry food very well.
I don't hydrate pellets in bags, that is a CB1 method. IMO bag hydration tends to be too messy and you have less control of what you are doing and how the pellets are hydrating. I prefer a 1.5 gal fairly rigid plastic container with snap lid. When the container collects some dried residue I simply wash it. With the proper amount of water, I basically get a dry container when I am done feeding the pellets. There should be no residue after feeding. With residue try using less water to hydrate. EAch batch of pellets will often require slightly different amounts of water to pellet ratio.
You are very correct in observing that the pellets hydrate faster if warm or at higher temps. I sometimes put them in the microwave after they have absorbed all the water as sit for 5-10 min. This fairly quickly gets water to the center of the pellets based on pellet diameter. I have pellets soaking now at 1:15pm for the evening feeding. Soaking the day before also works for me. I can store uneaten food in the frig for 1-2 days without it molding. After day one the AM pellets will usualy not mold into shapes, but Zeigler and Silver Cup pellets will still mold okay. Dr Griffin from Purina told me that was probably due to the amount of gluten and the heating process of making the pellets.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 09/04/12 12:40 PM.
