Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Aquamax local pricing, just curious.

Makes me grateful for my local mom and pop feed store. They will get me one bag, or 3 at a time, and never seem to have any problem coming up with it. It's not the cheapest, last year it ran around $34, but I'm just glad to be able to get it.

I recommend AQ500 all the time when people come into the shop and see my photos of fish, and the PondBoss items on the counter and wall. They always want to know what I feed my fish, and where to get it. The feed store jokingly says I'm a good salesman for them, so they must be selling more AQ than they used too.

$72.90 for a bag of AM500 and a bag of AM600 at Berend Brothers in Bowie Texas.

$102 including tax for three bags of 500 here. Order one week in advance. If want largemouth or fry, order two weeks in advance.

Since your HBG are so large now do you think they would benefit from AQ600 at this point, or do you think it is better to just stick with the 500?

Got pricing from supplier today for AM LM at $26 a bag.

Just got 2 bags of 500 and a bag of 600 from the local feed mill. $30.50 each before tax. They special order it which takes a week to 10 days to get in.

I picked up a bag of 5D06 today for $30.00. Tax is included in the price.

Every single one of you does way better than me.

I've called around several times in the past and found everyone about the same.

I go through about 100,000 pounds of feed a year and that number goes up by 20% every year. I have tried to be loyal to Purina Mills over the years due to their affiliation with Pond Boss, but have quit recommending or selling their product completely. They would never give me the time of day (except one year when Darren Simon was there he wanted my business and got it). Since then I'm not wasting time trying to jump through hoops.

Silver Cup has been great to deal with, but their high protein food is meant for coolwater fish and it makes my warmwater fish morbidly obese (not in a good way).

I am now a registered dealer of Cargill fish food (the largest privately owned company in the US. I met the guy at the Pond Boss conference and he wanted my business. They supply many of the huge fish farms in Arkansas and are just now reaching out to the end users (us). They carry several lines of fish food with complete diets and high protein levels for warmwater species.

They ship direct to my clients all over the nation which is a huge bonus for me, because I can recommend a product and make money selling it as opposed to recommending Aquamax and trying to help a client find it locally.

Anyhow Im not gonna peddle this product too much because I havent even tried it yet personally, my first shipment is coming in next week. But they certainly have the customer service down pat so far. If their product pans out I will be very happy. (Bruce, this is where we test in your cages as well).

Just wanted to put this information out there, because it seemed like many people are frustrated with Aquamax, maybe a little attention on the pond boss forum will wake them up a little bit.

Nate spoke with cargill folks as well and been using their products for years picked up when getting trout. We moved 20 tons of thier product and never knew they even made it. Good to read great minds think alike and yes so far they have been responsive. Freight cost will still be an issue however on small orders.

The AM500 was $36 in Lumberton, MS.

2 bags of AM600 $54+tax..

Nate,

I was told virtually the same thing by the assistant manager of the biggest yellow perch farm in the world here in Indiana. Why a company can be so unresponsive to such a potential large buyer is beyond me. The crazy thing is one of their feed mills is not that far from the farm!

Nate/Greg

This is good news...please keep us in the loop in terms of the performance of this Cargill pellet. Could be a great option for all of us and we appreciate you giving us the head's up.

Is the Cargill feed branded "Cargill" or "Nutrena"? Or what is the exact name of it?

In my area a bag of game fish chow is like $24 a bag and the AM 400 is like $42 a bag. Only a couple places keep the game fish chow in stock, all AM is order only.

GFC is $23 this year, did not even ask about the AM 500 or 600 as last year it took for ever to get it, and then they ordered the wrong amount of each and wanted me to buy it all at once.

I believe Cargill bought out Burris Mill and Feeds in Louisania. Here's the Cargill Website:

http://www.cargill.com/feed/species/aquaculture/index.jsp

I'm being told by someone in the aquaculture field that apparently Purina Mills seems to be more interested in maintaining a niche market than taking on large producer orders.

That web site for freshwater fish is poor. No info that I could find except this.

Freshwater fish:
Channel catfish, walking catfish, many species of carp, pacu, arapaima, bluegill, largemouth bass, yellow perch, bait fishes such as minnows and suckers, sturgeon, trout, hybrid striped bass.

Anyone have more info ?

I'm curious as to what differentiates their "freshwater feed" from their "trophy" feed. Bluegill is listed under both, but as Eric stated, no details are given.

I was wondering where I was going to get feed for the walking catfish I plan to stock this year.

Ask Floridians about walking catfish... I'm betting you they'd give you a few for free!

$34 for a bag of 600 at Waverly, Nebraska COOP.

Eric

A little lower they list our common species as "trophy fish". They need a little fisheries education over there, but thought you'd like to see this regardless as bass, sunfish and perch are mentioned.

Freshwater fish:
Channel catfish, walking catfish, many species of carp, pacu, arapaima, bluegill, largemouth bass, yellow perch, bait fishes such as minnows and suckers, sturgeon, trout, hybrid striped bass.
Marine fish:
Asian sea bass (barramundi), yellow tail, tuna, cobia, sea trout, gilt head bream/dorada, dolphin fish, amberjack, grouper, red snapper, red drum, pompano, milkfish, salmon, halibut, cod.
Ornamental fish:
Koi, goldfish, fancy goldfish, and approximately 100 species of salt water aquarium fish.
Trophy fish:
Bass, bluegill, catfish, brim, perch.
Prawns
Crabs
Turtles
Alligators, crocodiles and caimans