Training and Growth of Artificially Fed Largemouth Bass in Culture Tanks

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Largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides (Lacepede), were graded into two size classes (13–53 g body weight and 113–173 mm total length for small, and 54–88 g body weight and 174–201 mm for large) and were successfully pellet trained and reared in small culture tanks. Pellets were thrown with force into the tanks, one at a time, during the training period. Smaller bass were fully trained to consume floating pellets after 3 weeks. The training period was about 10 days longer for the larger bass and required a mixture of floating and sinking pellets. The training success for survivors was, however, almost equal for the two size classes (90%). Body weight, total length and condition factor of the bass in both size classes did not change significantly during the first 8 weeks of the experimental period. Relative increases in body weight and total length were 74 and 8% respectively, for both size classes during the subsequent 10-week period. Survival percentages for the entire 58 weeks of the experimental period were 66 and 70% for small and large size classes, respectively.