Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations No more Aquamax for me!

All good points.

But it is a big deal if your fish prefer, or thrive on a particular product, then the company changes the product significantly, at the same time implying that they didn't. It's dishonest, and it also hinders us "scientist wannabes" from controlling variables to improve our success. If it turns out to be true, I'll be furious.

+ 100

I'm in agreement, but then again maybe the guy on the forklift didn't know the whole score.

While this may be true, my personal experience is that a lot of times the guy on the forklift knows more than the VP-Marketing.

Good point!

Agreed.

But there are a lot of types of fish that can be made into fish meal, so even if the listed ingredients are the same on all Aquamax bags, couldn't you be getting a substantially different makeup to the food based on where it is made and where they source their fish meal? Same with other ingredients.

I dont know for sure, but I would think Rangen is using Menhaden from the Gulf of Mexico, since their plant is so close to the coast. No idea whether Aquamax uses Gulf Menhaden fish meal nationwide.

Question - I moved my feeder about 150 feet recently. Will the Bluegills hanging out at the old site all move to the new site?

Home range of bluegill is large enough so that 150 ft away they will soon find the new pellet feeding station.

Some web references state BG home range to be 30 square meters. Although I rely on recent research from SDSU to be more accurate.
http://www.in-fisherman.com/panfish/bluegill/tracking-bluegill-research/

I think so too. Rather quickly.

Hi Bruce! I like what you are currently doing with RES. Ata Boy!

It's been a really fun project. They're a challenging fish!

New AM smells like pasta, not fish. Period. I deal with it daily with hydrated pellets I smash and sink. The recipe has changed, I just don't know if it's positive or negative. My HSB don't seem to like it, since I'm feeding them, that's a negative.

Like slightly burnt pasta...exactly.

Guys,

As a bystander, I feed a mix of Cargill and Skretting, I suggest you ask Bob L., who has the inside track with Purina, (I see he is still promoting Aquamax in an article of the latest issue of PBM) to simply ask Purina what's up. Is it the same food?? Just my 2 cents.

Different size, different smell, different consistency, different feeding reaction. Not sure there's a stone that's been left unturned - pretty obvious to me.

The Aquamax Largemouth is clearly not the same.

Fish still eat it, but I'm an intermittent feeder.

Wasn't the Largemouth formula originally coordinated by the Pond Boss to simulate the nutritional parameters of a small trout? this is exactly why I am disappointed in the fact that Purina is throwing such a curveball here. The Pond Boss went to a lot of work to make certain that such a cool product was available to us.

I am new to all this...and ordered small quantities online from folks that are repackaging it. My first 5 lb order I did not notice a strong smell or anything. My second order had a strong fish smell. I figured it was just me. This discussion has me wondering.

Fish seem to hit both pretty good.

Sean

My hybrid striped bass have not gained weight on the aquamax and look skinny. They don't feed on it with much vigor and so on a friends advice I'm switching to skreeting 48 percent protein. The pellet size is about double that of aquamax 600. The cost is about the same. His concern is that they may be using more feather meal in their product. He thinks fish do not digest feather meal very well. All I know is that my hybrid stripers don't look they are being fed at all.

James, this morning I was reading my new Pond Boss magazine (Nov. Dec 2015). Eric West has an article in the Science & Cutting Edge, discussing Hybrid Striped Bass with his friend George Glazener . The article was well written and not wanting to ruin the article for you, I will just mention there is some information about the feeding of HSB that might be helpful. I am waiting on the rains to stop here in E. Texas so we can get to the pond, and then I will be stocking some HSB. Soon I hope.

Tracy

Has anybody tried the new Optimal food on HSB? Do they eat it? If so, how is growth?

I'm going to use Optimal on my FHM, RES, and CNBG initial stocking, but don't know if it would be good for future HSB.

Mind you, this wasn't a controlled test. This was a "I wonder what will happen?" The fish weren't weighed, the food wasn't weighed. Now remember, this Optimal food is formulated for sunfish.

I put 200 HSB in a 4' square cage on 6-25. I threw 3 handfuls of food in the cage every evening around 6 pm. There was a feed ring in the cage so the food wouldn't float out. The middle of last week I cleaned the fish out of the cage. The HSB were 8"-11" long. Do I have pictures? Nope. If everything goes right there will be a formula for carnivore fish next year. When next year? Hopefully in the Spring. Will the pellets be bigger than the Sunfish food? Yes. How much? That hasn't been determined.

I'm trying to see what is the biggest pellet that the current Texas Hunter feeders will reliably throw without doing any irreversible physical changes to them.

As you can see, it's a work in progress.

Thanks, Scott, good info. I'm looking forward to stocking and feeding.

I hope Eric will read this and chime in. I just read his article in pond boss about hybrid striped bass and am trying to understand what he is saying. Does it mean that catfish food with high carbohydrate content is just as good for hsb growth as the expensive high protein foods we are buying? Can we mix high protein food with high carbohydrate food? My hsb are skinny right now and I am still working on why that is happening could be feeder not feeding enough? Cloudy water Im not really sure? I will say my fish don't seem to be feeding aggressily on the aquamax 600 but could just be a fluke Im not sure?

I am here. HSB do not require high protein diets and can digest carbs well. BG and LMB do not use/digest carbs so they are different. There is a lot of aquaculture data on HSB food requirements as they are a commercial food source fish (grow out for food consumption by people). 32% protein is plenty and it looks like much of the fish meal requirement can be replaced with soy products. James pm me an email and I will send you the referenced studies.

See this for info.

https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/283/