I am doing pretty much the exact same thing with LMB, RES and crappie.
The LMB and res started at ~2" but i was only able to find 3" hyrbid crappie.
The LMB are completely feed trained. The RES are quazi feed trained in that they eat pellets but most will only take a pellet after it starts to sink and it is better if they are already softened by soaking.
The crappie still only eat blood worms. I cannot even get them to try saturated/sinking freeze dried krill.
I have 6 crappie in a 60 gallon aquarium. I added 2 of the closer to feed trained RES and 1 completely feed trained LMB to the same tank to help with competition but hopefully not introduce too much competition.
next year i am going to work very hard to find smaller crappie to work with, after reading other threads on feed training on this forum and my own limited experience it seems like it is a lot easier to feed train under 2" sized fingerlings than full grown fish. Remember fry eat zooplankton and such that is floating around in the water until they get big enough to eat snails, insects, crustaceans or smaller fish. It seems logical they would take to pellets/crumbles easier at this stage since they are already used to eat food that doesnt move very much.
Brian
Last edited by bcotton; 06/29/13 01:12 AM.
