If you want a faster transition from worms or krill to pellets, I suggest you try softening the pellets. As an additive incentive to eat the pellets squeeze some of them so they sink. This does take time but it pays dividends as results. Other flavor enhancements you can use is add flavoring to the water used to soften the pellets. I've used fish, clam and shrimp bouillon. I've also used pureed FHM, mashed or pureed canned tuna in oil.
all these flavor enhancements are excellent for pellet training fish. Fish love all sorts of soft sinking food even if it is pellets. Don't use the cheap pellets. Higher quality pellets usually have some flavor enhancers added.
Keep track of how many days it takes for fish to start eating pellets.

4Corners - Try adding the crushed or ground meal worm material to the pellet softening water for soaking the pellets. IMO transition to pellets will be pretty quick. Once you see BG taking the soft pellets slowly transition to the drier and drier pellets using less and less water and ground or powered dried meal worms . Transiton may take 7-10 days. Report your results in this thread. Here is the softening recipe. I feed all my fish softened pellets. See notes at the end.

Softening High Protein Fish Pellets Pay attention to the details. - Cecil calls these hydrated pellets and softens pellets in a zip loc bag.

Here is my old recipe for softening Aquamax or good quality high protein fish food pellets. I created the recipe after Bio-Oregon Fish Food Company (formally known as BioProducts) in the late 1980's quit making their soft fish food pellets. Note Bio-Oregon uses Krill in some of their foods.

https://bio-oregon.com/specialty-feeds/

J. R. Snow & James I. Maxwell (1970) Oregon Moist Pellet as a Production Ration for Largemouth Bass, The Progressive Fish-Culturist, 32:2, 101-102

Keep in mind that different batches or “runs” of different brands of dried pellets usually require slightly different ratios of pellets to water. I am sure this has to do with the type of raw product used as additives, mostly carbohydrates, that are seasonally available to Purina or other fish food manufacturers. All Aquamax pellet sizes larger than size 5D02 will soak and become pliable. Smaller pellets soften faster. Water ratio to amount of dry pellets will be similar. I have used this same or very similar ratio of water to food for several other brands of high protein fish food. Lower protein fish food (32%) will NOT soften properly.

One quart of pellets (1/4” 5D06) and 6 to 6.5 ounces of water. Sometimes different batches will require 8 oz of water per quart of pellets. Small batches: one cup of pellets & 2 tablespoons of water. Shake pellets and water for one full minute or until ALL water is absorbed and NO “gravy” remains. Pellets should be shaken once to three times within the next 20 to 30 minutes to keep individual pellets from sticking together. When done you want ALL pellets to have a very similar softness but definitely not mushy. When properly softened, the pellets with stick together and mold like damp clay or cookie dough while not sticking to your fingers.

The soaking container for a lot of fish, I use is a 1.5gal plastic container with a lid. I think the lid helps retain the moisture and prevents excessive drying of pellets so they remain more pliable and damp during the soaking process. Use a smaller container such as Cool Whip bowl with lid for small batches of pellets.

I let the pellets soak up water for 2 to 6 hours; longer is usually better and produces a more pliable pellet. I usually use overnight soaking for next day and their use is okay and produces the softest pellets. Heating the final damp pellets in the Microwave for several appropriate number of seconds sometimes makes the soft pellets more pliable and moldable. The heat is actually causing the carbohydrates to change & soften.

Soaking times may vary somewhat depending on pellet size and brand of feed. Sometimes to slightly increase dampness, and if pellets are too dry after several hours of soaking, I spray a mist or sprinkle water on them about one hour before feeding. When I first had this problem I built a water sprinkler out of a 2 qt juice bottle and I shake and sprinkle and even coating of water on pellets and allow them to soak for about another hour. A spray bottle mister works good for smaller batches.

You do not want pellets to be sticky when they are finished soaking. When pellets are done soaking and pliable nothing should stick to our fingers when working with for compacting, squeezing or rolling the pellets. Sticky pellets means that too much water was added during the soaking. Soaked pellets will float or sink depending on whether the air has been squeezed out to the pellet.

Aquamax pellets after soaking and even when stored in the refrigerator, tend to lose their pliability and become crumbly after 24 hours. Optimal stays softer and pliable longer than Aquamax. At this point Amax are still soft but is harder to roll or mold them into a soft damp pellet. However other fish food brands such as Silver Cup (Skretting), Optimal, or Zeigler will maintain pliability after 24 hrs in the frig. I often feed the day old damp crumbly pellets to non-specialty fish or minnows. Damp pellets will form mold fairly quickly when not refrigerated after softening.

Moist pellets can be frozen as molded pellets or feeding the individual pellets. Don’t be afraid to experiment. I am using some Fall 2023 soft frozen pellets in February 2024 and the soft pellets when thawed are still moldable esp if warmed in the microwave.

NOTES –
1. Softening technique does not work with lower protein (28%-32%) fish food. When soaked they turn to mush.

2. If you are NOT rolling, molding for forming a sinking type of larger pellet, then proper softness is not as important to the process. Many fish will readily accept softened pellets of almost any softened texture. Small fish can swallow a large soft pellet.

3. If I want to soften pellets a little faster I moisten them as per instructions and then put them in the microwave long enough to heat them or use warm or hot water which speeds the water absorption. For small batches such as ½ cup heat on high for about 15-20 seconds. Remove shake several times during the first 2-3 minutes let cool. Test softness then sometimes adding a little more sprinkling of water and reheating will help finishing the softening process. Heating or warming will also make them easier to mold or shape. Experiment for what works for you.