Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Help ! I have spoiled rotten BG

One acre pond with BG RES CC GSH and lmb I am trying to feed my BG a higher protein food but if I don't hydrate it first they take it in and spit it out. The GSH and CC devour it first the RES will take some. I have tried just barely hydrating it but they still spit it out. Do I need to just wait until the water is warmer and they are hungry or is there some other trick to get them to eat unhydrated food

I have found that my fish spit out bigger pellets but no as much on smaller. However, I believe that the bigger pellets soak up water and are eaten.

I use a larger pellet from tractor supply first to feed the GSH and CC then I feed a smaller aqua max they will eat both if they soak long enough

Over several days to a week, soften the pellets gradually less and less each day until fish are accepting hard pellets. Then if they will not eat the hard pellets you did not do the pellet soft to hard process long enough number of days. Another option is to soften just one size brand of pellet. Then when they are eating a hard pellet you can feed both brands/sizes of hard pellet. Note - if you are using a Tractor Supply nonAquamax brand pellet of 36% protein they do not soften properly - IMO. My experience is the cheaper brand of 36% protein pellets do not have enough flavor enhancers to encourage 'fussy' fish to eat hard pellets. They are rejecting cheap pellets due to flavor and texture.

Thanks for your response I have been trying that I will try to do it a little more consistently and see what happens. Should be a little easier when the water is warmer and they are hungrier

My fish lost weight on TS food. Went with cargill 4512, then to aquamax 500 and they went crazy over it

I feed Purina MVP and as you can see by the video, there's no need to soak it.

I can see the wakes of the fish coming when I walk towards the pond.

You can order it from Tractor Supply for about $69 per bag or contact your local Purina dealer for a better deal. I was able to get it for $52 and it's a 50# bag.

Spoiled BG? I was at a pond years ago where they turned up their nose at Aquamax 600 but went crazy over Aquamax 500. These were 10"+ Bluegill.........

I have tried mvp and aqua max 4000 with the same results I guess I will just have to keep experimenting. I was about to order some optimal bluegill when they folded up

I hear they are back in business as Endurance https://endurancefeeds.com/

Looks like they purchased a banner on the forum. I've seen it a few times.