Food "A" vs. food "B".

[Bruce Condello]

The following blog will document the introduction of a new pelleted feed for a specific group of bluegill. Eventually the brand and formulation will be revealed.

Food "A" has been in use for a group of bluegill for 1 year. These bluegill are currently age-1 and age-2. The fish grow well on food "A", and seem to eat vigorously.

Food "B" is the feed that we wish to convert to.

Food "B" was delivered to my house at 1:30 p.m. today. The feed was then brought to the farm.

Examination of Food "B" reveals that it is darker in color, and has a "richer" smell for lack of a better term. I brought the feed to the pond with the bluegill. The first toss of food was at 3:00 p.m., which is a normal feeding time for these fish. Some minor feeding activity took place, but it was clear that the fish were unaccustomed to the particular feed. The hits were more tentative. I would rate the overall feeding event at 25% of normal.

This was not unexpected, as bluegill do become used to their particular feed, and typically require an adaptation period. Quite honestly I was impressed that they took as much as they did, given the fact that the fish are being fed to satiation every day. The most recent feeding was today at 8 a.m., so these fish clearly aren't hungry.

Current water temperature was 75 F., pH was 7.9, and dissolved oxygen was 8 ppm. Secchi reading was 22 inches.

More information as it becomes available.

[Bruce Condello]

Last night it was very cool and cloudy out, with an approaching storm. I threw out three handsful of pellets, which is probably about three ounces. I was really happy to see a decent feeding. Maybe things are looking up.

[Bruce Condello]

Water temperatures are continuing to drop. They're in the low 60's now. Unfortunately that has seemingly thwarted my efforts to convert bluegill to "Food B". The acceptance was poor today, but the fish we sampled were in fabulous body condition, so I'm suspecting that this is a horrible time to convert to a new feed. I turned the feeders down even further, to about 25 percent of what they were. I'm hoping next weeks warmer predicted weather will allow this conversion/experiment to succeed.

[Bruce Condello]

The fish weren't interested in "Food B" today. I was really disappointed....

So I tried "Food A".....

No feeding activity with that either!

Turns out the water temperature has dropped 11 degrees in the last two days. Do ya think that might have a little to do with it? :-)

I turned the feeders down to 50% of normal, and we'll see what happens in a couple more days.

[Bruce Condello]

Actually the new food is a secret formulation. I'm not supposed to discuss on the open internet. Call me up sometime for details..

This evening the fish were very subdued in their utilization of this feed. Part of it may have to do with the fact that water temperatures have significantly decreased, but my feeding schedule has stayed steady.

Fish were still eating, but it was a very laissez-faire. All water quality parameters were good, so I don't think that was an issue.

[Bill Cody]

Bruce, Will you post the main nutrition content of the two foods - % protein, %fat? I wish the fish food manufacturers would list the % carbohydrate.

[Bruce Condello]

This morning at 8:00 a.m. I visited the site again.

The fish had been only fed "Food B" for the last couple of days through the automatic feeder. I was feeding at half the normal volume.

When I attempted to hand feed I was pleasantly surprised at the response. "Food B" was vigorously consumed. I would rate the feeding at about 80% of normal in terms of agression, and amount of feed consumed.