Conversion is going to depend on quality of feed. Some feed producers guarantee 3:1, 3 feed to 1 fish....but commercial feeds are expensive. Your costs are already going to be high, just being in NY compared to other states. I got my discharge when they were trying to pass "illegal not to recycle" law. Not sure if anything ever came out of it or not. But I wasn't sticking around to be told I HAD TO, or face fines. Anyway I am getting off topic. Perch are nice, one of the better tasting in my opinion, and have a high demand on the market as they are disappearing from the Great Lakes area. They are easy to breed, and you can even use an egg tumbler for hatching to gain more control, less labor though to just hatch on their own. Your conversion though, regardless of commercial, homemade, DIY or whatever will depend on the quality of it, but also the quality of your water parameters. The best feed can be fed to fish in the nasiest of water, and the owner gets mad because they don't grow as well. It's basically like farming....take the best care of the cow, and you get the best milk/beef. Abuse them....don't complain about what's on your plate. Contact the DNR, county extension agent, and Zetts fish farm....it's not far from you in Penn. They should get you a good start.