Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Calculations and Formulas

Hey, I'm working on a project and have hit a deadend in reading through research papers (at least the free ones i can find), and the textbook I have... Figured I'd ask here!

For simplicity's sake, just consider LMB..although it would be awesome to accumulate for a variety of species.
I'd like to have some formulas to help calculate:
1. Digestion rates of food (based on size, weight, water temp, and any other important factors)
2. Stomach Capacity
3. Calorie Consumption required to maintain weight
4. Calorie consumption required to grow (and how much growth per incremental calorie)
5. Energy (calorie) usage based on activity, water temp, DO, and other factors

If anybody knows any rules of thumb for any of these or any good places with research docs, that would be great! If not, I've seen a few research docs online that I may have to bite the bullet and purchase. I just don't know if they'll have the answers I need.

Some background on the request.. I write programs as a hobby and started a 'pond simulation' software, but got caught up on these things... If I could gather/create some formulas then I could incorporate into the software.

If I can ever get the program to anything worth showing off, I'd love to share it on the forum!

Nathan

Have you looked at a fish physiology book?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0849384273/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

Your program will likely involve program modeling. Lots of variables for this topic. It is probably worthy of a thesis or PhD dissertation .

Thanks Bill. I just bought that book and will give it a read...

Allow me to give some more detail on the program...

In the program, I generate a set number of fish of different species, at whatever weights/lengths I specify.
The program can already create the collection of all fish, and goes through a process of encounters where fish try to eat each other, sometimes successful, sometimes not based on certain factors I've specified (fish can eat fish of 20% - 40% of its own length. Would like to add gape as a factor - Bill, I know you've been collecting some data on length/gape).
As the cycles happen, eaten fish are converted into 'stomach contents'.
If the fish is above standard weight already, a certain part of the contents will contribute to growth (length and weight) each cycle.
If the fish is below standard weight, a certain part of the contents will contribute to weight gain but not growth in length.
I've also put in my own formulas on max stomach capacity (relative to size of fish), and hunger threshold (fish won't eat if its belly is full).
The formulas I've made are derived from things on the forum and other places (example: LBM must eat 10 lbs of food to gain 1 lb. So as long as fish stays healthy and belly full, 10% of its stomach contents would be converted to growth).

While these mechanics of the program seem to be functional, the formulas I'm using are nowhere near perfect and I get some funny results. I haven't even taken temperature into consideration because of the complexity, but for now just started with some basic food chain stuff. I would eventually like to get to where it can simulate a supply of plankton/zooplankton as a food source for the tiny's.