I have a local Purina Dealer who shows up as one of the companies gld level type dealer and another feed store that is a Purina dealer. One carries the standard GameFish 32%floating fish chow, the other carries an off brand Ranchers Choice. I have contacted the top line dealer regarding buying the AwuaMax Product. They said they would forward to Purina Rep...after a second contact to the dealer with no answer I went to Purina through their Facebook page and was contacted quickly that a Purina Rep would call. So far that is a dead end. Their webpage does not show a stocking dealer within 200 miles, that has to be a screwed up web issue. Do any of you have this much trouble buying Purina Products?

Your local Purina dealer should be able to order it on their regular delivery.

i can get aquamax 500 and 600 at my local dealer, but they can't get largemouth pellets for me. i think a different mill runs the larger pellets. you may not be close to a mill that runs aquamax.

Any Purina dealer can order any Purina Mills product.

I think that some of the issue of not being able to get any size of Aquamax that you want from a Purina dealer is that the dealer just isn't interested in getting involved. My dealer in Vandalia IL (Michels feed and produce) goes out of his way to make sure I get my feed on times

I will try again. I have not gotten any communication from the Purina rep, the retail manager, or any responce to an email I left to their corporate website. For a company who makes such good stuff, they have a substantial breakdown in their communications to and from end users.

My main reason to want to try it is what I read here as well as watching my BG's when the feeder runs...catfish are like vacs, bass have become more aggressive feeders, but the BG grab a pellet (32% Gamefish) and simply spit it out.

Thank you all for the responses. This is a great group of folks here!!

If anyone who works for Purina sees this....zero contact has taken place

Getting Aquamax product is always a little sketchy for me. As far as I know I am the only one to have ever ordered AM products from the two different Purena dealers I have dealt with. They handle the floating catfish food and keep it on hand. Feeding fish is not real common in my area.

I have to order very early in the season (March usually) and I might get my first batch in May. I usually have to start feeding some Cargill branded 36% stuff from Tractor Supply till the AM shows up. Last two orders of 4 bags of MVP each time got 3 the first and 1 the second. First order of year for 6 bags MVP they sent AM600 instead.

I keep enough ahead I rarely run out during the season (feed the Cargill if I do) so it is not a big issue for me. Just hardly any call for the product in my area so I figure it has to come from a warehouse far away.

Some people must feed fish in my area because all the farm stores carry the 32% floating catfish food of one brand or another. But I think it must mostly be one bag at a time recreational feeding. Seems to be no interest in higher quality feeds. Or maybe most people simply don't know higher quality feeds are available. Sometimes when I go to Tractor supply I buy all the 36% Cargill Trophy Sportfish they have at the time, as they do not carry a very big quanity.

my dealer is piedmont fertilizer in opelika,al.. they have tried several times and they won't ship it to them. they say if it isn't on their list from the distributor, then most of the time they can't get it. i can get am 500 or 600 with no problem, just not lmb pellets.

tractor supply in my area says they can't get it either and they are a purina dealer.

I wonder if one were to approach the dealer with an order for a pallet quantity of AQ, if it might not suddenly become available to them.

When I was feeding AQ I sourced it from two different dealers. Both could order what I needed, but the enormous wait time, coupled with frequent shortages and inconsistent product, finally became too much to bear.

My seed and feed store will order whatever he can for me. He has run down different wildlife seeds for me many times and he once gave me 3 free sks of Purina fish food. If I had one that would not order something for me, I would find another seed and feed store and after finding one I would let the first know why. He may not care but that is just the way I am, maybe because service is all one really has when owning your own business. Products get be had most any place. And the same with the fish food, if you cant get service from Purina then I would find another fish food company.

It's 2021 and still an issue. Every Purina dealer I've contacted wants 30 plus dollars in shipping alone per bag. Very frustrating in Leavenworth,KS.

Wow, John, that stinks. My Purina dealer has AquaMax MVP all the time, but had to special order 300 and 400 for my forage pond CNBG yoy.

I haven't found anyone who actually carries any of it in the store in my area.

I have a great dealer who purchases all of my feed. He has not been able to get 400 for me all summer. Might be a labor issue at Purina, I know in my field nobody wants to work. LOL

John, unfortunately that is the price that comes with shipping. The box costs, the labor to put it in the box and do the shipping papers and the actual shipping of the feed itself.

Sort of makes Optimal Feed shipped to your door more attractive, doesn't it? LOL The $55-$60 price of the bag of feed includes shipping.

Do you buy anything else from this Purina dealer?

I'm wondering if my complete lack of experiencing this problem may be due to also buying a lot of horse/cattle feed, horse bedding, and fertilizer from my dealer (plus dog feed, Xmas presents, the list goes on). Or if I just have a good one.

Our Purina dealer just orders whatever fish food I want. I usually have to wait a few days, but there are no fees attached.

I purchase cattle, chicken feed, and a sport fish pond feed currently. If purina already delivers product to them and they are a huge chain store I don't understand the shipping fees one bit. We are talking about tractor supply store.

Yes, I am seriously considering giving up and trying Optimal since they seem to have a great product and zero shipping.

John, do you have a locally owned feed store close to you? TSC fish food is manufactured by Cargill, so that may be the reason there's a shipping fee for Purina.

The Purina dealer here is ten minutes from my house, but Optimal comes to my door, and I don't have to pay the rapacious city sales tax that is collected at the Purina store.

Give it a try. Your fish will thank you.

TSC stores here may sell some Purina products, but they are not what I consider a Purina dealer. With the checkerboard on the sign and all.

A full service Purina dealer would IMHO get you whatever Purina product you want without a delivery charge - they have Purina trucks bringing product to them on a regular schedule. You might have to wait a week or two (like I did for Aquamax 600 early in March), but I would not expect a separate delivery charge.

Yes, I've tried the local feed stores as well. I found one more in my area that is owned by a local farmer. I will ask him what he can do otherwise optimal it will be.

Any Purina dealer in the nation can order that fish food. They order a week ahead of time and get it with their regular shipments, usually on Wednesdays. They don't pay any additional freight, so whoever is talking about that doesn't have their facts straight. Find a local Purina dealer and work with them and you'll get the product unless there's a delay at the mill--which has happened with Covid issues.

Hey Bob, thanks for joining in. I sure wish it was that simple, but for many of us that's not the answer we receive. I am going to try one more place that's the local farmers grain elevator feed store basically. I know they sell a lot of purina products. If they sell it doesn't that make them a dealer?

I agree 100% with Bob. My Purina dealer orders a week in advance for me and doesn't charge a penny extra. When I first got started he said he could order a skid or a single bag, it made no difference to him, just let him know a week before I needed it. Ofcourse I still can't get AM400 but I believe that is due to Covid.

I did Purina for a few years through the local Co-Op, my contact person was very helpful. When he left the next guy didn't care enough for me to buy 40 bags a year from him. I Switched to Cargill Triton 4512 last year, very pleased. Starting 6 Sweeney feeders up Friday. We feed from April fools day to Halloween...For fry starter I just put some regular size in a blender.

Just to update: My final attempt with a local dealer paid off. I asked for aquamax mvp and he said no problem. I explained what the other local dealers told me about shipping costs and he said that's ridiculous . I told him for starters I would need a bag every two weeks. He went on to tell me he was gonna order extra to stay ahead of my pick up times. He took my number and will be calling when it arrives. zero shipping cost, finally!