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#423360 09/08/15 09:58 PM
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First of all, if Purina hadn't screwed things up in their supply chain earlier this year, this probably would have never come about. I couldn't get Aquamax just like a majority of other people, and I was looking for an alternative. Matt Rayl of American Pond and Lake Management in Russiaville, In. and I have been working together on a number of things this year, and he told me about this new food. I had to bug him for about 2 months before I even got some.

I use my personal pond as a test bed for different things. After all, if I screw up and kill fish, I won’t have an irate customer to deal with; I will only be kicking myself in the butt for screwing up.

I've heard a lot of things said about the food, and for me, it required a paradigm shift in my thinking. There are many different facets that go into pond fish food that we don't even think about, and some of those were made very apparent to me the first time I fed the fish in my pond the food.

Some of the things that I was told are:
1) Food composition can be tweaked by the ingredients to make fish more resistant to high stress events that might kill them, like low Oxygen levels in ponds. These things don’t have to be listed on the label.
2) Pellet size and even shape will have an effect on how fish feed on them.
3) Better quality food will mean better water quality.
4) Fish food can be specifically tailored for a fish species – it’s not a “one food feeds all fish the best” scenario. “You wouldn’t feed your dog a steady diet of cat food, would you?”

Well, without going into a lot of detail about those 4 points, #1 and #2 are definitely true in my observation.

I witnessed a fishkill due to an oxygen crash in a pond where different foods were being tested on fish in cages. Fish in cages that were fed the Optimal food had approximately (by my observations) 70% less mortality than fish in the other cages.

The fish in my pond wouldn't even look at the Optimal food for 3 days, started pecking at it slowly, then started eating it like the AM600 that I was feeding previously. A month later when I got a bag of AM600, they would swim past it to eat the Optimal food. As far as I can tell, that was strictly due to pellet shape and size. Fish get conditioned to a certain size of pellet as Sprkplug can attest to. I have 5-6 pound LMB that won't touch AM Largemouth pellets, again due to pellet size and conditioning, but they eat all the AM600 that they could get. They are now eating the Optimal food too...

So, it’s off to the races with the new food.
I've been running the feed test in fish cages in my pond, in addition to feeding the fish in my pond the food. The test was the new Optimal Bluegill fish food vs. Aquamax 500 vs. Sportsman’s Choice Trophy Fish Food (made by Cargill) that is available from Tractor Supply. I really, really wish that I could have gotten some of the Cargill food that y'all in Texas are feeding, and I would have run that in the test as well.
The results are pretty amazing, and I will have pictures and information for everyone shortly. I know Bruce is doing some testing as well, and I would hope that he chimes in here too, as the results that he is getting are even more apparent than mine.





Here's the test:
3 fish cages each 2’ x 4’ x 4’ deep.
Hybrid Bluegills are the fish in the cages. Starting size was 9.5#/1000 or 0.152 oz. per fish average weight.
Matt brought over a bunch of fish; they were divided equally between all three cages.
Each cage has a feed ring to contain the floating food. Cage material is 3/16” square plastic mesh. Each cage has a net on top to prevent predation by Blue Herons.
Fish are fed once per day at 6 pm. Test was performed starting on July 8th 2015. This fish sample was collected on Sept 8, 2015. There were two days during the test where the fish were not fed in the evening due to time constraints.
This sample was collected by running the dip net through the cage, and taking an average representative sample of 10 fish from the 100 or so fish that were in the dip net. The rest of the fish in the dip net were returned to the cage.
Fish in cage 1 were fed Sportsman’s Choice Trophy Fish Food mfg. by Cargill and sold in Tractor Supply Stores
Fish in cage 2 were fed Purina Aquamax Sportfish 500 and was purchased from the local feed store
Fish in cage 3 were fed Optimal Bluegill fish food from the calibration run of feed
Each cage was fed the same amount of food by weight every day. The amount of food fed to each cage was not changed from start of the test to September 8th. The amount of food that each cage was fed was 4 ounces per day.
Fish in cage 1 average length was 2 ¼” and weighed an average of 0.097 oz. per fish.
Fish in cage 2 average length was 3 1/8” and weighed an average of 0.297 oz. per fish.
Fish in cage 3 average length was 4 3/16” and weighed an average of 0.802 oz. per fish.
Fish mortality in the cages was about the same, i.e. approximately 3-6 fish per cage per week. There was no apparent cause of the mortality, and each cage saw approximately the same mortality rate.

All I know is that I'm sold on the Optimal Bluegill food.

I didn't feed the fish to optimize growth, I fed the fish like I feed the fish in my pond, a "supplemental" amount of food. I only fed once per day because that's all I had time for, and it was a chore to make sure I was home to feed them. On the days that I knew I would be gone, I had the neighbor feed them.

The official "launch" of the food will be next year. The shipping/supply bugs are being worked out now, but there is some food available now. As of this moment, there are no fancy fish food bags, they are plain white. The food comes in a 40# bag, and the target price is $45 per bag, delivered via FedEx.

The people that are making the food are open to input. The calibration feed looked like a worm, it was approx. 1/8" or slightly smaller in diameter, and anywhere from 3/8" to 3/4" long. The input from the calibration food was that it was too small, and didn't throw by hand out into the pond well, and when put in a feeder, it didn't throw it as far either.

They changed their extruding dies, and now the feed is approx. 3/16" in diameter by 1/2" in length. Both Matt and I think that is too big, so they are going to reduce the size and find a happy medium. After all, this food is supposed to be feeding 3"-6" BG. A pleasant surprise happened when the calibration feed was used in ponds with RES. They started feeding on the pellets. Both Catmandoo and Bruce noticed this, so I feel this is more of a "Sunfish" food than a "Bluegill" food.


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There you go, everyone who has been wondering about all the hype. I'm sold on the Optimal, and it will be my exclusive BG feed next year. It took my fish a few days to warm up to it, but once they did the feeding response was incredible. I think the new pellet might be a tad large, especially for smaller bluegills so hopefully they will shrink it back down some. Maybe cut the length down.

I was impressed with what I saw when feeding the stuff. And more than that, I'm genuinely excited at what the future may hold in store. Haven't experienced that level of anticipation in awhile, and it feels good. Going to spend these upcoming colder months putting a new plan together, and Optimal will certainly play a prominent role. Looking forward to it. Finally.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Scott (Esshup),

Does that $45.00 per bag include shipping? My guess is no but I'd be elated if it did!

Btw does this stuff have a name? Optimal?

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 09/08/15 11:18 PM.

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Scott, thanks so much for your research and report. I'm just starting out and Optimal sounds like it might be just the ticket for CNBG and even RES.

Look forward to reports from other users as well. Do you know if there is any way those of us in east Texas might get our hands on some?


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Originally Posted By: Cecil Baird1
Scott (Esshup),

Does that $45.00 per bag include shipping? My guess is no but I'd be elated if it did!

Btw does this stuff have a name? Optimal?


Cecil, that price does include shipping. Optimal Bluegill Food is it's name.

anthropic, it can be ordered and shipped via FedEx now, and if a few guys want to get together, or if someone uses more than a bag or 4 per month, there are ways in place to ship 1/2 (24 bag) and full (48 bag) pallets for less shipping costs to the consumer than individual bag shipping costs.

One of the biggest hurdles before this was unveiled was the capability to have this food available to all pond owners in the continental USA, not just the lucky ones that were in a certain area. Matt has spent a considerable amount of time researching different shipping methods, and has worked out a deal with FedEx for shipping individual bags. 1/2 and full pallets can be shipped via truck, but it has to go to a commercial address, or I believe at least an address where a fork lift, tractor with forks, etc. is available. If a lift gate is required on the truck, the shipping costs for half and full pallets approach individual bag costs.

Sprkplug, it's my understanding that the diameter will be increased over the food that you tried, but smaller than the most recent production run. Also, while the length can be shortened, we think that at least some of the attraction to the food from a fish perspective is due to the elongated length, vs. a round shape. I personally believe that is why RES are more attracted to it as it might mimic more of an "invertebrate" form.


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I read a comparison study of 4 fish foods....two were the Cargill's, one was AM 500...and I can't remember the forth. The AM500 outgrew the rest...one of the Cargill's was close.

Point being that if you outgrew AM 500, and another study showed AM500 outgrows the Cargill feeds...then you outgrew the Cargill feed.

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Great stuff Scott. Thanks for posting.

I will testify to what it has done for Bruce's RES. I have a new .6 acre pond. In it I have 350 RES and clouds upon clouds of FHM. No other game fish other than RES. It is RES Haven. You can barely run a net thru the pond without catching a FHM. And an endless supply of snails. Well Bruce was kind enough to let me have the 350 RES from his stock. The majority of them were the biggest ones in the batch. They have been in my pond for 12-14 mos. now and they are doing incredible, as you can imagine. I was shocked by the relative weights and condition of my fish when I sampled them this spring. UNTIL....... I saw Bruce's RES that he had pellet trained on Optimal. The contrast is unbelievable. The weight on some of them is at least 50% larger. And the coloration is remarkable. It was shocking to me.

Last edited by NEDOC; 09/09/15 07:56 AM.

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Well done Scott.


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Originally Posted By: esshup

Sprkplug, it's my understanding that the diameter will be increased over the food that you tried, but smaller than the most recent production run. Also, while the length can be shortened, we think that at least some of the attraction to the food from a fish perspective is due to the elongated length, vs. a round shape. I personally believe that is why RES are more attracted to it as it might mimic more of an "invertebrate" form.


That makes sense.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Originally Posted By: esshup


Cecil, that price does include shipping. Optimal Bluegill Food is it's name.


You can count me in as soon as I use up what I have!


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If you have the shipping figured out... I am in for a bag.

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Scott,

Please pass on my congrat's to Matt and the whole team of scientists behind this endeavor. It is so cool to see risk takers and scientists succeed together!

My BG's and GSF whaled on Optimal all summer and now with the price/shipping all figured out.... Myself and my small network of pond owners here in MN will all be feeding Optimal next season.

Once again...Great Job sirs!!!

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Originally Posted By: NEDOC
Great stuff Scott. Thanks for posting.

I will testify to what it has done for Bruce's RES. I have a new .6 acre pond. In it I have 350 RES and clouds upon clouds of FHM. No other game fish other than RES. It is RES Haven. You can barely run a net thru the pond without catching a FHM. And an endless supply of snails. Well Bruce was kind enough to let me have the 350 RES from his stock. The majority of them were the biggest ones in the batch. They have been in my pond for 12-14 mos. now and they are doing incredible, as you can imagine. I was shocked by the relative weights and condition of my fish when I sampled them this spring. UNTIL....... I saw Bruce's RES that he had pellet trained on Optimal. The contrast is unbelievable. The weight on some of them is at least 50% larger. And the coloration is remarkable. It was shocking to me.


This is very interesting. And thank you Scott for doing the research.
Does this also mean that there is a RES formula? Also, is there, or will there be, a different formula for YP? What about SMB? I just have one feeder, and want to feed RES, YP, and SMB.. Could I assume that this BG formula will get the same results with the mentioned species? Those results are amazing. Not even close. What could possibly be the downside of switching from AM500 to this?
Thx
Jeff


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
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Originally Posted By: Boburk
If you have the shipping figured out... I am in for a bag.

Sean


So am I.

By the way, Scott, does Optimal also prolong life for the BG?


7ac 2015 CNBG RES FHM 2016 TP FLMB 2017 NLMB GSH L 2018 TP & 70 HSB PK 2019 TP RBT 2020 TFS TP 25 HSB 250 F1,L,RBT -206 2021 TFS TP GSH L,-312 2022 GSH TP CR TFS RBT -234, 2023 BG TP TFS NLMB, -160




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Now I need to remember another acronym... OBF?


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Thanks guys. I'm just a small cog in the gearbox. I want to give everybody that had the test food a big thanks from the guys for your input and feedback. Getting the shipping figured out was a HUGE step in the right direction. As you know all too well, if you can't get the food it doesn't matter how good it is.

Setterguy, I can't answer the switching food question, and all I know is that this food is formulated for "sunfish", where RES, CNBG, HBG, BG and PS all fall into that category. I switched from feeding Aquamax 600, and I believe it's the same formulation as Aquamax 500, just a different pellet size. I was told that different fish species have different food requirements from a Recirculating Aquaculture System standpoint, and that Largemouth Bass and Rainbow Trout both need different feeds, as do Bluegills, Tilapia, Catfish, etc.. Do LMB and SMB need different feeds? I don't know the answer but my gut feeling says that the food for SMB/LMB probably will be the same formulation. Do LMB and HSB need different food in a RAS system? I don't know. What about Yellow Perch? Again, I don't know.

For the halibut, I am feeding some 6" HSB this food in a cage. (again, my pond, my test, if I kill them then it's a learning experience and I won't have a client mad at me.) They have been eating it for about 10-12 weeks now, and seem to be doing O.K. I haven't pulled out any fish to check on them, so I have no idea how they are growing, but I'm not seeing an abnormal amount of dead fish either. Is it the best food for them? I have no idea I just wanted to see how they'd do on food that isn't "specifically for them".

I can see the next question coming. "Well then, how do I feed my fish in the pond if I have a lot of different species that I want to feed?" Again, I don't know, but knowing what little I do about the guys formulating the feed, I wouldn't be surprised if they can come up with a specific food taste that might not be palatable to Yellow Perch, but LMB might love it (for instance). At this point in time, I really don't know the answer to that question.

MNfish, I know you have had great success with the feeding response - IIRC you called it fish cocaine with regards to how the GSF ate it.

Catmandoo had RES eating it and the RES weren't pellet trained.

The LMB in my pond wouldn't touch the stuff, but after a week they are eating it just like they did with the AM600, but that's just the pellet trained ones. I believe they didn't eat it right away because of the pellet size/shape. Tony might have something to say about fish preferences in regards to pellet size/shape. wink grin

But remember, the goal for this particular formulation is to grow Bluegills/Sunfish. The guys that are making the food make a LOT of different blends of food for the RAS industry. Some of their specialty food is pricey - IIRC I heard $4/lb tossed around, and that's before any shipping is figured in.

Will there be other feed formulas in the future? I hope so, and I think so. Without saying more than I'm supposed to, the 3 principles behind the food have in excess of 75 years of experience behind them.

When Matt talked to them, they had no idea that fish pellets were being used to feed fish in ponds. The fish pond side of things is all new to them, and they are going into this without a lot of pre-conceived notions, none of this "we've always done it this way and it's worked" type of thing.

For the aquaculture industry, they feed fish, then dissect the fish, examining internal organs, do blood tests on fish, monitor water quality, etc., etc. For aquaculture, they said that it's a waste of food and $$ to have food going to make fat, or have food not get eaten and have water filtration issues. I can see that being applied to ponds as well. I have seen excess food create FA problems in ponds (mine!).

Time will tell. I really wish that this was the beginning of the feeding season rather then the end, but I AM looking forward to the results that people will be seeing this time next year.


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Thanks again Scott for the addl info.
I realize it's formulated for panfish. However, I'm feeding AM 500 to the YP. Would it be any more oriented for YP than this new feed?
Just a thought..


9 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep.
RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (only one seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) Have seen one of these.
I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
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Originally Posted By: SetterGuy
Thanks again Scott for the addl info.
I realize it's formulated for panfish. However, I'm feeding AM 500 to the YP. Would it be any more oriented for YP than this new feed?
Just a thought..


I honestly don't know.


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Really wished you could have gotten the Cargill 4512 into the test instead of the TSC stuff. Maybe next time

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shouldn't the cargill media relations people be made aware of the pictures in posting above on this forum? Not that there is anything wrong with doing side by side comparisons of 3 different feeds in a controlled environment as esshup is doing (I appreciate his work and feel his methods are very scientific) but, if I was on the media relations team for Cargill and got this snapshot emailed to me...and knew that my fish was the top fish in the mugshot above, I would be scrambling to censor that picture. That poor top fish in the picture above looks like it was not given ANY food smile

The pictures and difference in feed are striking!

How can a big company like cargill that presumedly has access to good fish food making science and expertise produce a product that works so poorly?

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I agree Pat, You know our fish love that stuff!!


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That's the 17-20$ stuff that's not even in the running with their 4512, 45%pro-12% fat

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I am performing two fish feeding trials using green sunfish (GSF) and yellow perch (YP) fed Aquamax and Optimal foods.

These are the results for feeding green sunfish(GSF) the Aquamax 600 and the Optimal Fish foods for the first six weeks of my feeding trial. Starting sizes for body length of GSF in both groups ranged from 2.625” to 3.25”. GSF were sourced from my pond using traps.

Twenty five GSF were placed into separate fish cages. Cage 1 fish were fed Aquamax and fish in Cage 2 were fed Optimal. Both fish foods were hydrated prior to feeding because some of the fish appeared to be too small to eat the dried pellets. Pellets were hydrated and chopped into smaller pieces prior to feeding. Fish in both cages were fed daily to the point of satiation.

At the end of six weeks all the GSF were sampled. The 23 GSF as a group (two died) eating Aquamax gained a total of 24.2495” (615.93mm) which converts to an average 0.970” (24.63mm) gain per fish.
The 25 GSF as a group eating Optimal gained a total of 32.74” (831.6mm) which converts to an average 1.423” (36.16mm) gain per fish. Not all fish gained equally in length.

After six weeks the GSF body lengths for the Aquamax group ranged from 3.0” to 4.75”. Body lengths for Optimal food were 2.75” to 5.06”.

At the end of six weeks half of the GSF from the Aquamax group were placed in a separate cage and are being fed Optimal. The other half of the GSF eating Aquamax are still being fed Aquamax. The plan of splitting the Aquamax fish into two groups was to see if the half now eating Optimum will out perform those still eating Aquamax. The caged GSF eating Optimal are still being fed Optimal.

My feed trial study will conclude when the water temperature drops to 60F around the first week of October.

The feed trial with YP has not been sampled. Preliminary results do not appear to be as good as those with GSF. More perch have died in the Optimal cage compared to the Aquamax cage. Matt Rayl says his nutritionists are saying the optimum diet for YP is different compared to sunfish. Supposedly yellow perch diet is more similar to salt water fish than the sunfish diet. Matt Rayl's fish food group consists of fish nutritionists and fish physiologists. The nutritionists develop the diets and the physiologists analyze the fish for overall health condition. I think since Optimal nutritionists have had good experience developing food for feeding recirculating aquaculture yellow perch, they will eventually produce a specialty food for YP and hybrid striped bass.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 09/09/15 02:00 PM.

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I should mention that our HBG, LMB, YP, and HSB were all slow on the take with the Optimal. The BG fed aggressively after 4-5 days, the HBG after 9 days, the YP took almost two weeks, and the LMB and HSB never did show the enthusiasm they do with AQ.


"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"

If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
Joined: Dec 2009
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The HBG are doing pretty good on the Ziegler Silver stuff I have and there are some chunky brutes down there.

It would be interesting to try some of this new feed when I pull them inside for the winter.



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