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<br />12 <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />Artemia, (see Food Storage and Preparation) are fed for the first 10 days. Young pikeminnow fry <br />are transparent, and because brine' shrimp are orange in color, it is obvious under microscopic <br />observation when fiy begin to feed. When the majority of fry are feeding on live brine shrimp (@12 <br />days post-hatch), start alternating feedings of brine shrimp with a microparticulate larval diet such <br />as Fry Feed Kyowa B-250 (FFKB-250, Biokyowa Inc., Chesterfield, Missouri). Pikeminnoware <br />aggressive sight feeders, and the movement of live brine shrimp helps train the fry onto a dry diet. <br />Over the next few days, gradually start feeding more feedings of FFKB-25 0 than live brine shrimp <br />until fry are feeding only on the dry diet. <br /> <br />Fry should be fed FFKB-250 until they reach 1 inch in length (@ 40 days post-hatch). At this <br />time, fry are large enough to start feeding on Fry Feed Kyowa B-400 (FFKB-400). When making <br />feed changes (size and/or type), it is advised to mix the two feed sizes for several days before totally <br />switching to the new size. During this time, one should observe the fish closely to see that they are <br />accepting the new diet. The numbers attached to the FFKB microparticulate diets (FFKB-250 and <br />FFKB-400) correspond to the size of that feed in microns. Feed particle sizes are less than 25Q <br />microns for FFKB-250 and between 250-400 microns for FFKB-400. Pikeminnow fry, being so <br />small, need a complete encapsulated diet of these sizes in order to be able to ingest the particles. Due <br />to the warmer water temperature, the pikeminnow metabolism requires a diet high in protein (>40%), <br />and coated to reduce leaching of nutrients into the water. These costly diets are created to have the <br />nutrients similar to live brine shrimp, but in a very stable dry formula. Each small particle of this feed <br />is supposed to contain the complete diet. Fry should be fed FFKB-400 until a length of 1.5 inches <br />is obtained (@ 100 days post- hatch). <br /> <br />When fry were about 1.5 inches in length, they were started on a semimoist extruded feed <br />series, Biodiet Starter #1-3 (BDS #1-3, Bioproducts, Inc., Warren ton, Oregon). Fry were fed ad <br />libitumBDS#1 (<600 microns) until they reached 1.9 inches (@ 130 days post-hatch). BDS #2 (600- <br />800 microns) was fed ad libitum from 1.9-2.2 inches in length (@ 160 days post-hatch). BDS #3 <br />(800 microns-1.2 mm) was fed until fry reached 2.5 inches (@200 days post-hatch). At this time, <br />switchfromBDS #3 to Biodiet Grower, BDG, 1.3 mm pellets.BDG is a pelleted diet that contains <br />less moisture than the BDS diet. BDG 1.3 mm was fed until the end of the 's feed experiment (@ 3.5- <br />inch pikeminnow). Ifpikeminnow are to be reared to larger sizes, BDG does come in larger size <br />pellets (1.5-9.0 mm pellets). <br /> <br />Note: Trout diets were tested in some of the first intensive pikeminnow culturing experiments at the <br />FRH. The particle size of the trout starters was too large and hard-textured for swim-up fry to feed. <br />Manually grinding these diets into smaller particles did not work. When observing fry uilder the <br />microscope, these diets appeared to be compacted and damaging to the fry's intestinal tract. <br />Pikeminnow fed only trout diets had a high incidence (60-90 %) of scoliosis. <br /> <br />Amounts and Feeding Frequency <br />Pikeminnow fry should be fed ad libitum six to eight times per day for the first few months. <br />The sampling needed to gather data for feeding charts (measured feed amounts) is too stressful and <br />detrimental for delicate pikeminnow fry. When feeding ad libitum., it is very important not to over- <br /> <br />. <br />