I been way off grid for a while but still raising perch and 3 children who love to fish. I'm having trouble finding Aquamax 600 again, being told it is part of the food shortage world wide, etc. Anyway, my local co-op can't get it. I am searching for options at this point. My fish are feeding like wild and I am out of feed. I may have to just fill the freezer.

You can get a similar Optimal product shipped right to your door in a couple of days.

JoeG!!! Been a long time!! Hope all is well.

If you go to hoosierpondpros.com you can order Optimal products and have them delivered to your door, as gehajake suggests.

Yeah Sunil I am well, the family is too, just living the dream. I hope you and yours are thriving also.

As far as optimal I been looking at that option to get me out of the woods. I usually feed 700 lbs annually and that doubles my feed cost out the gate between 40 lb bags versus 50 and shipping costs. Dang Purina having no distribution up here besides the local co-op makes it tough, and my other source of fish feed i liked, Mellick Aquafeed, burned down in 2020 and i think completely closed up so I am scrambling again. Other than that, I have a few other calls to make and see what I can scrounge up. Tractor supply fish food doesn't cut it, it grows noticeably thinner fillets, wont do that again. Trying to find Zeigler at the moment.

If you have Tractor Supply stores up their they ship free to the store. Here in the south they have it.

Family Farm & Home stores say they can get it ordered to the store via the store manager Check that out on their website. .

Any Purina dealer should be able to have it shipped to them also.

I was told Purina did not have it and was unable to supply it due to worldwide shortages which seems to be the new normal with the current state of the world, such as it is. I spoke with tractor supply and have ordered it there before in a pinch, their order process is a bit screwy and they are also priced higher than the local coop was. A few good fish frys may be in order and regroup.

https://www.coreyaqua.ca/home

This is what us Canadian guys use. Works great. Maybe you can get this product?

The Marshall Texas Purina store hasn't had AquaMax feed for weeks.

The Optimal feed is priced WITH the shipping costs, there is no extra shipping costs. Try it, you might be surprised by the difference in the water and in the fish.

I'm not sure why the distribution is an issue with Purina but it IS.
I fed some of their product last summer and I'm running 3 different trials of my own right now, also using some of Purina's product.
I believe from what I've seen so far, they make a good high quality feed, fish seem to do well on it, but of the 3 Purina dealers here there seems to be issues getting it.
Purina management got me what I needed for the trials last year but if not for Optimal, I'm not sure what I would do as far as having a steady fresh supply of feed available.
I have an interest in experimenting with other feeds but as for needing and getting it, Optimal can't be beat.

I wonder if some of the difference is that pondmeisters such as us make a much bigger part of the customer base for Optimal than they do a giant like Purina. Not trying to put down Purina, they make excellent feed & I use their products, but we are pretty small potatoes for them.

That is what I was asking really, has anyone else seen this in their area? I am sure horse people generate more revenue for Purina than fish guys like us too, bigger fish than us so to speak.


I ordered 2 bags of optimal yesterday and am going to order some Purina at TSC today, they say they can get it. I also sent an email to optimal about buying bulk and getting it shipped to a business address on a pallet, we will see.

I understand that shipping comes with the optimal pricing, I also know I get a 50LB bag of purina for 10 bucks less than a 40 lb bag of optimal....so that is roughly a $1,000 bucks a ton difference in feed. I don't feed a ton a year, but using 8 hundred pounds a year is pretty easy, I know it's only money.

I believe a member here that hasn't been on here in years did a test comparing the 2 feeds. Optimal put more fish flesh on the fish per pound of feed than Purian, and he calculated that it was actually cheaper to feed Optimal to gain a pound of fish flesh than Purina.

Called Marshall Purina store today. Still no Aquamax products, though they keep ordering every week.

Fortunately, Optimal still seems to be operating.

I bought 6 bags of Aquamax 600 at our local Purina dealer last night. They had more.

Where in OH Theo?



I ordered some 2 days ago and I'm gonna try some when it shows up. I would have serious doubts it converts that much better, would have to see some pretty hard data to make me buy into that one. Time was when Aquamax was raved about on this very site, now it is Optimal....curious how that works.

I'm very happy with what Purina is and the price point. It just isn't easy to lay hands on here these days like many things in the last year and I expect in the years ahead.

Regardless of preference, availability will rule the day.

JoeG:

Granville Milling, Granville location.

They might have some a their other locations as well - Johnstown, Newark, and Lancaster. They usually do, but I didn't ask.

Yes, the Optimal vs Purina, Ford vs Chevy arguments lose steam when none are available.