Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Bubba the Bass

OK, last yr. I made mention of a very small bass (6-8") my son caught in the creek right by our house. We searched high and low for a good easy food source but never really came up with anything but worms, grasshopper, junebugs, and the occasional cricket. Once winter came, hard times fell on 'ole Bubba the Bass. He was getting pretty skinny. But then I had the pleasure of attending the Pond Boss convention and Bubba's luck changed. I was responsible for getting those larger Purina bass pellets home for us here at Sweeney to test on a new design of feeder. While I was getting that sack, I asked Dr. Griffin if I could just try some of the smaller pellets that he had there, for Bubba. I really did not think he would would eat those pellets since he had not been trained to do so, but I figured what the heck I might as well try it. What followed in the coming days and weeks has been nothing short of amazing. At first Bubba was not quite sure what to do with those things floating above him, but after looking at one of the pellets for about a minute, he rose to the top of the aquarium and sucked it in. He seemed to almost chew on it for a little while and then spit it out only to go right back and suck it in again. He did this about three or four times and then it was gone. Seems he had to get it smaller before he could swallow it. Long story short is that he took a liking to the pellets, but at first could only eat about 3-5 a day. He much prefers the smaller pellets cut into half or thirds. Now, almost a month later, he consumes almost 20 pellets a day. His stomach is starting to look like mine and he eats them so violently that water will splash out of the aquarium. He has become so used to the feedings that he will actually come and grab a the pellet out of our fingers!!!!

Very neat Billy, choosiness when it comes to food choices starts to go way down the longer food depredation goes on, initially chosiness stays very high for several days and at some point the choosiness will crash and about anything starts to look good to eat. A food starved LMB is probably much more likely to try a pellet out of desperation than one that is not hurting for food at the moment.

Billy, It would be interesting to put in some minnows and then try some pellets.

Yea, I'll have to get my son to seine some and test it to see which he prefers. I'm betting on the minnows. He loved them last Summer when we put a few in. As a matter of fact we would put one in one of those small goldfish nets and dip it in the tank and he would attack it and hang on while we lifted him out of the water. Dangedest thing you ever saw.

Billy, a long time ago I had two small LMB and BG in a small 10 gallon aquarium. I used to feed the cubed ham out of can which they readily ate since nothing else was available, once they got a little bigger I switched to small minnows. The two LMB would eat 15-20 small minnows a day which got very expensive buying them at the bait shop 3 dozen at a time.

Not to highjack this thread, but I was wondering what would happen if one introduced pellet trained bass into an existing pond with existing LMB. I would assume they would have to be big enough so as not to become forage for larger LMB. Can they compete with CC and BG for the pellets? How much weight can the put on per month or year? Any thoughts or experience?

It really is amazing how aggressive they become. Bubba follows our every move when he is hungry. He will swim completely around the dang tank just waiting for us to drop something in.

Billy, I remember talking to Lusk about feeding several years ago. As I recall, we were talking about catfish. He recommended turning off a feeder for a couple of days per week to make/allow the fish to hustle up some natural food. As I recall, it had something to do with health.

Dave that is call compensatory feeding and in some situations it results in faster growth.

My 7th grade science teacher had a LMB that he kept in a 5 gallon aquarium in his classroom. To the best of my recollection there was nothing obvious in the tank except the fish, a healthy growth of algae, and water of course.

I can't be sure, but I believe the fish had been in that tank for several years. My brother who is 4 years older than I am says it was there when he attended that class. Again I can't be 100% sure, but I don't think the fish was fed by anyone. There were no filtration system, aeration, or mechanical devices of any kind.

What fascinated me the most was the size of that bass. It was approximately 2 - 2 1/2 inches long.

The next time I speak with my younger sister I'll ask her about that fish. Her memory is better than mine.

OK another update/question. It appears that Bubba may be Bubbette. Started noticing that "she" was "twitching" quite a bit the last couple of days and then last night we noticed her going to the bottom of the aquarium and quickly rubbing her belly on a small rock-much like I have seen bass do in ponds and lakes. Is it possible that he is a she and is prepearing to spawn? Will they do this without a male present or am I way off base??????

You do realize it's the male that makes the nest and rubbing on things is usually a sign of external parasites?

Nope I did not realize that. I'm just an old worn out feeder salesman who has fished for bass in the past and has a son who is obsessed with fishing. I assumed that since I had caught many larger bass with "bloody" tales that they were females whose tails were bloody from making nests. You know what they say about "ass u me". So would the twitching be a sign of parasites as well? Now that you have enlightened me, and I have shown my ignorance, it does look as if he/she is rubbing the bottom of her/his stomach on the rock-not fanning the bottom. Parasites????

The story of Bubba the Bass causes me to wonder if by feeding your fish you can vary the metabolism of the fish. My question is does feeding your fish cause them to want to eat more at a feeding and eat more often?

Interesting you should say that. While I have made it quite clear that I am no expert in Bassery, I do happen to know something about feeding show pigs. The answer to your question, if it were a pig, would be yes on most occasions. That is the entire concept behind "hand" feeding show animals/pigs vs. "self" feeding(unlimited intake available). However, that theory is not a 100% as I have found an occasional "pig" who would eat itself into a gluttony if left on a self feeder, but for the most part, a larger daily weight gain and larger daily consumption was achieved by hand feeding the animals multiple times throughout the day. Another factor which comes into play with the pigs is their age. As the older they get, the more that theory tends to hold water. I would assume that the bass would be the same, but then again there goes that word "ass u me" again!!!!

Also to think about would be what role does competetion play in the consumption rate? With show pigs we eliminate that factor by placing them in individual pens. I bet this has been covered somewhere here on PB before.

Is there a basic way of determining how much feed to give and how often? I think my sweeney feeder will feed up to twenty times a day. I have been feeding only twice a day but I just added a third feeding. Should I feed four times a day? Also is it better to feed more often with less feed or give more food with fewer feedings?

More basic than "Feed what they can eat in 10-15 minutes"?

Condello has run through intermediate math for fish feeders a couple of times, which I feel works better if you are concentrating on feeding a population of known stockers. You use the number and weight of the fish, then multiple by the % of body weight they will eat each day. I think he most recently ran through it for Jody Doles within the last month or so; if you want to search for it, Jody's name would probably have fewer false hits.

One reason to adjust the number of feedings per day would be to target different species. CC can eat a lot at once, BG not nearly so much. So if you fed a lot once a day, CC would get a bigger % of the feed. Multiple smaller feedings would help the BG get a bigger % of the total feed.

Thanks Theo, I knew someone on here would come to the rescue with some facts. Sounds like the options could be quite numerous depending on what the pond owner wanted as his end result. Very similar to what we do in the show animal game.