pellet training bass

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Candiru
MFK Member
Jun 24, 2008
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rand mcnally
hi folks

i have 5 largemouth bass in a 75 gal. tank. they are about a year old. i got them last spring when i noticed a bird was chasing fry into a drainage ditch covered with a grate while i was fishing. i brought a net and a bucket over and scooped out about 50 bass fry. i kept 10 and released the rest. i gave 5 away and now i have 5 left. i've been feeding them live food since i've had them. they started off with blood worms then guppies and then goldfish. they eat about 160 2"-3" goldfish a week which sets me back about $16 a week. now, i'm trying to find a more economical diet for them. they are picky eaters. they won't eat live crickets or meal worms... they do eat nightcrawlers though. i'd like to ween off to pellets but i doubt they'll accept it... can anyone offer me advice or suggestions?
 
I have my lmb eating frozen krill. He actually took it right away. I plan on moving him over to freeze dried krill soon and then hopefully to hikari gold. I know the freeze dried krill are a step down from frozen but it will get him used to food thats dry and floats. One thing to keep in mind when converting a fish to a different type of food is to not give them any food for a few days before trying new food and continuing to offer the new food only untill they eat it. Starvation will kick in and convince the fish to try the new food. Your fish may lose quite a bit of weight but it will eat eventually. If you have other pellet eating fish in the tank he may also learn to eat pellets by their example.

On a side note... LMB get pretty big and pellets will be good for them but not cost efficient when it comes to making grown fish full you may want to teach your bass to eat cooked or uncooked shrimp from the grocery store for the bulk of their diet and suppliment with feeders and or pellets
 
i have an lmb that would only eat guppies to start with. my bluegill was in the tank already when i put him in and he has been eating pellets for some months. the bass saw the bluegill eat the pellets and noticed that they were good to eat, but at first he prefered live food. then the bass at first just spat the pellets out but after i stopped buying guppies for a day, he ate pellets. now hes been on pellets for about a month and a half. he was 2 inches long when i got him and hes about 2.5 now. he eats about 10 pellets a day. hes growing fast! hope this helps!
 
get some pellet sticks and push them around the surface, will look like prey and theyll hit it. but dont feed them for several days so theyll be egar to take topwater food
 
thanks for the suggestion guys... i've been starving them and they are pretty aggressive right now. they killed one of their buddies so i'm down to 4 lmb's. i'll throw in some frozen food tomorrow. let you all know how it goes. thanks again
 
i tried giving them shrimp today. one of my fish took the initial shrimp i dropped in, but no takers after that. just followers and lookers. its not as frustrating as followers and lookers when i'm fishing though haha. unfortunately, i broke down and bought feeders... i had to feed my piranha so i got feeders for the bass too. i'll try frozen silversides in a few days.
 
le patron;1915232; said:
i have an lmb that would only eat guppies to start with. my bluegill was in the tank already when i put him in and he has been eating pellets for some months. the bass saw the bluegill eat the pellets and noticed that they were good to eat, but at first he prefered live food. then the bass at first just spat the pellets out but after i stopped buying guppies for a day, he ate pellets. now hes been on pellets for about a month and a half. he was 2 inches long when i got him and hes about 2.5 now. he eats about 10 pellets a day. hes growing fast! hope this helps!
Click to expand...

That's been my experience, too. I have one LMB (caught in a farm pond) with two different bluegill (stream caught). The bluegill will take floating and sinking pellets easily enough, and after going without feeders for a week, the LMB took one. Now he sees me coming and starts dancing at the surface just like the bluegill do. I still give him goldfish, shiners, and the odd smaller sunfish when I catch them small enough.
 
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