Optimal will provide discounts for 1/2 and full pallets of food. Consider sharing a pallet of food with another pond owner/s as Chris Steelman does in Texas. Contact Optimal for pricing and shipping. They have a warehouse I think in eastern Ohio. My second choice would be contact the nearest trout farm / producer and try and get some of his food. they could be using Zeigler feed which is made in PA. Trout farm should work with you. You could buy two sizes for small to large perch. The other acceptable food is a Purina Sportfish or their Sportfish MVP (multivariable pellet) several sizes for small and large perch. Contact your local Purina retailer. You can visit PurinaMills.com/fish-and-aquatics-feed.
Where did you buy your perch?? . They may have some larger pellets that they feed their brood stock perch.
Optimal feeding test is still in progress. Optimal staff evidently wants to have the feeding test progress longer than one year. I am starting the 2nd year for the study and perch are still doing well. I do not sample them because there are not a lot of the all females in the pond and I don't want to make them hook smart so I can easily collect them at the study completion. There were eggs present this spring in the test pond but the ones I looked at were not fertilized.
I thought I would be loosing some of the test perch due to an otter visiting late last year. Evidently it did not find hunting successful since perch stay deep in the ponds. Otter moved about 1.5 mile away where hunting was better in a bass pond.
Let us know what your progress is with finding a pellet supply. You should have some nice sized perch at this point after raising them for 10 years. How they doing for sizes?
Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/19/20 02:26 PM.
