Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Feeding baby RES

I picked up 50 1.5"-3" RES yesterday at NEMO Fisheries.

After I got home with them I put them in a 2' diameter x 2' tall mesh cage. I want to make sure there aren't any
accidental BG in the pond, so I decided to cage them for awhile to let them recover from the stress of transport,
and I can inspect them later to make sure they're all RES before releasing them into the pond.

Then it occurred to me that if I keep them in the cage for a month or two maybe I can get them started on pellets.

The acquisition of these fish was a spur of the moment thing, so I find myself with fish, but no proper fish food.
I'll order a bag of Optimal today, but until it arrives I need something to feed them.

I'm thinking minced shrimp or catfish bellies or whatever other kind of fish I can pick up at the grocery today.

I've read several threads on training RES, and have a rudimentary understanding of what has been done by others
to get them started. I just want to do my best to keep them in good shape until the pellets arrive.

Am I on track with my thinking here?

Two days shy of two years since this fish was stocked.

Species Length Weight Standard W Relative W
RES 10.00 0.96 0.72 132.92%

I think I'm on the right track.

Definitely interested in writing a story about this. Augie, pm me if interested.

Cody Note - Look for a Pond Boss magazine very good article about Augie's RES adventures in an upcoming PB issue.

Another bit of anecdotal information regarding the current crop of caged RES...

A week ago I dispatched a nuisance racoon. After I finished butchering the varmint I pulled the liver and pancreas out of the offal
and chopped it up into itty-bitty pieces with a filet knife. Mixed it up with ~1 cup Optimal Starter #3.

You would think the stuff is caviar. I toss the small round pellets from Optimal Jr. -dry- into the cage until they stop taking them. I've
found that they will eat much more of it if I toss one or two at a time rather than 20 or 30. After they've eaten their fill of those I drop
in bits of the coon liver, which worked to very nicely hydrate the Starter #3 pellets, one piece at time. They fight over it. Observed
rejection of the pellets is virtually zero.

The first of this batch to be caged have been in there for about a month now. Earlier today I pulled the cage to get a visual on how
they are doing. The best of them look like little footballs. Some of them look like they haven't eaten in weeks. This is consistent
with my previous observations.

I think it's time that I built another cage so that I can separate the aggressive feeders from those that are on the timid side. I want
to find out if the wallflowers will bloom after the bullies are moved out.

Shorty, your prediction was 100% accurate.

I moved the largest six RES to a different cage. It took three or four days for the fish in both cages to get over the ruckus.

Once they came out of their funk, fish that had been middling feeders prior to removal of the most aggressive six, immediately
filled the power vacuum that was created.

The exercise is just about finished for this year. We're taking a couple weeks vacation starting next week and won't be around
to feed, so they will all be set free on Tuesday.

Side note - yesterday evening I spent some time tossing the Wehebe to catch some BG to use for catfish bait this weekend.

1st toss I came out with quite a nice RES. Phone was in the truck, so no pic, but I got no reason to make it up.

Species Length Weight Standard W Relative W
RES 10.50 1.18 0.84 140.48%

The RES that I've done weights and measures on this summer have ranged from 125%-180% relative weight.

BFRES I think so.