But, genetic talk aside, there's no way those big boys could grow so large if they didn't have a 24-hr cafeteria open. All they have to do is turn, open their mouth, and suck. Food!
Think it would be worth experimenting with a Koi/LMB pond?
I have read that Koi spawn at roughly 65-70F. That should make them the latest spawning fish in most ponds. Wouldn't that make Koi recruitment very low, since everything else in the pond would be eating the fry?
If you used grow out ponds for raising the Koi, and pushed them out into the LMB main pond while they were optimal eating size, would it be possible for all Koi to be consumed in a 1-year interval so you never reached the problem of very large Koi that are too large for predation?
It sounds like feed > Koi > LMB is more efficient at growing large LMB than just pellet feeding the LMB directly. If so, would utilizing the Koi make it worth the effort and extra man-hours? (Depending upon the goals for your LMB pond.)
