Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Purina VS Southern States?

Well, I went to my reliable feed store today to pick up a bag of Purina Game Fish chow and he was sold out... Go figure, I ran out yesterday and my fish friends will be waiting for dinner this evening.

So, while asking when another bag may arrive he suggested a product made by southern states called little strike. After reading the tag and contemplating the idea I decided to give it a try for a bag just to see what would happen.

I hate to switch them up so suddenly but it was the only option I had other than not feed them for a couple days. Has anyone used this product before or know anything about it?

This is what they indicate it has:
• Floating formula allows food to be available for
longer period of time so all fish can eat
• High Quality protein sources including 150 PPM
stabilized Vitamin C, balanced levels of minerals
and vitamins
• Contains fish meals and oils to attract fish
and encourage consumption

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude Protein ......................................(min.)36.00%
Crude Fat ............................................(min.) 6.00%
Crude Fiber .........................................(min.) 6.00%
Phosphorous (P) ...................................(min.) .85%

Sounds enticing but that doesn't mean the fish will like it or that it will benefit them as much as the Purina Game fish chow does. Just hoping to hear some comments or insight from anyone that's used it...

It should be ok for BG from the contents. What size are the pellets. One advantage to GFC is the multi size pellets for all fish sizes.

It is a common type of feed and a number of people on here have used it.

As ewest notes the GFChow has multi size pellets. I bought some to see what it was like and to use it as feed for my minnows/shiners. There appears to be three sizes of pellets in the bag: small 5/32"-1/8", medium 3/16", and large 1/4".

I used it with great success. Was much less expensive in middle Georgia.

I've used Little Strike for quite some time, although I am currently using Purina Game Fish Chow and some small pellet / high protien Zigler's feed.

Purina in this area is so hard to find, and sometimes it is so expensive, it just isn't worth it. But, this time of year, Southern States is often sold out of Little Strike, so I have to look elsewhere.

Tractor Supply in this area is now selling a Cargill multi-sized pellet product that looks pretty good. I believe it is 38% protien, and its smallest size is quite small for the fingerlings. A friend bought some just recently, and I think I'm going to get a bag or two to try.

Gentlemen,

One of these days we will have species specific feeds that won't build up excessive amounts of fatty tissue in pellet fed fish. This is coming to fruition through the aquaculture industry as it's imperative that dressed out fish have as little fatty tissue as possible to increase dress weight profit.

Many of the carnivore diets we are presently using are based on trout diets and are high energy for fish working against moving water in raceways. For more sedentary fish, this creates excess calories. There's also too many carbohydrates in many feeds.

Look for some serious changes in the next few years!

Cecil, I'm glad you mentioned that. When I tell someone that my Bluegills have a layer of fat, they look at me like I'm some kind of nut. It would appear that most people have never seen that in a BG.

So do you trim the fat off before eating the fish? What % of the fish would you say has turned to fat?

We did a presentation at the last PB Conf on fish nutrition. It covered the science and results of feeding. The aquaculture industry is indeed making advancements in feeding and foods. The concepts can be transferred to recreational fisheries and are very helpful but ,depending on the situation , are not identical. In food production aquaculture the fish are near 100% reliant on feed which is not necessarily true in recreational ponds. That is why its call supplemental feeding.

There is a difference in the nutrition requirements in BG , LMB and HSB all predators and even bigger differences with GShiners , catfish , FH , shad , GC , tilapia and the other omnivores and herbivores.

I don't find any need to trim it, as it's located around the stomach area, or entrails, not really attached to the meat or fillets.

I don't see it on our native fish, including those on supplemental feed, but only on the HBG. However, the hybrid pond has a high density of fish present, and It's treated with fluridone. The result is a pond probably closer to a swimming pool, with pratically no vegetation present, aside from some occasional FA, which gets treated also.

I feel the lack of vegetation has negatively impacted the production of natural forage, resulting on a high dependence on hand feeding, which may account for the fatty layer.

There must be an echo in here!

Well, it's been 4 days on the new feed now and it seems that the fish are eating the food but not with as much vigor as they did the GFC. There could be other factors contributing to this but they are eating the same amount as I usually would feed. The pellets are a little bigger I think than the GFC. However, while watching the smaller fish, they seem to wait till the food softens slightly and then they nibble at it. I noticed the same thing with the GFC.

To clarify what is actually eating this, it is mostly my BG and Channel cat... Some of my young bass are starting to feed, but since I have an established pond many of my older bass don't touch it. They just terrorize the bait fish when they eat...

So far from my observations I can't really complain for the result so far and with a cheaper price tag too.

Very interesting thoughts on here for specialized foods for certain species but makes total sense if you think about it.