Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Tractor Supply feed

Has anyone tried Tractor Supply's catfish feed? They offer 2 types of fish food-farm pond diet in a 20 lb. bag that is for all kinds of fish, and they have a 50 lb. bag of catfish food. I was wondering if anyone has tried the catfish food and if bream can eat it as well.
I really like the Farm Pond Diet feed because the pellets are small and I am feeding small fish and they seem to like it a lot.

tfnc,
I use it. The CC,Grass Carp and larger BG like it. You might want to mix the smaller pellets in with it since it's pretty big; about 6mm or so.
Chip

The Tosco "diet" food in the small bags is what I have been using for the bream and shellcrackers that I stocked last fall. I had a bag in the back of the truck one day, and was chewing the fat with someone leaning on the truck, and he asked me if I had to feed my fish diet food cause they were too fat, and I had to say that I assumed that meant it was for their diet, not for losing weight; Anyway, I throw out a plastic cup full every morning at daybreak and they are starting to get very aggressive about eating it. I don't have bass, so I think I will stick with this brand throughout this year. It's 36% protein, so I guess it does them some good.

Regards

I'm in the petfood business and I often feed out of date dog and cat food to my fish. As long as the "kibble" is kinda small the Hybrid Blue Gills and Channel Cats love it. If it's good enough for someone to pay $40 a bag to feed Rover it's good enough for my 65 cent catfish! Most of the farm pond fish will eat just about anything once they get trained to feed on surface feed. George

My how the attitude toward fish food has changed since 2005!

I am feeding some Sportsnan's Choice Trophyfish Feed (Cargill 36% multiple pellet floating/sinking available at Tractor Supply) while I wait for my order of higher protein feed to come in. My BG seem to like it pretty well.

I would not mind getting some Optimal, but I don't need a full pallet and motor freight shipping would likely drive the price sky high anyway.

I have used the Sportsman's Choice before with ok results. It will do fine for BG , CC and the like. Will even be ok for LMB as a supplement.

As far as I can tell, I have no LMB taking feed. Mine were not feed trained.

Did catch a 15" LMB last night while fishing for BG. I was wondering if I even had any LMB left. The catches last year were far and few in between, I had found 3 dead during the season, and I was getting an explosion of BG fry along the shore line.

Well this spring the majority of the small BG have "disappeared" over the winter. So I assume either the LMB or the CC did their job and ate a bunch of them (caught a 3.15# CC a week ago, so they are getting big enough to be predators). I think the early flooding knocked the LMB off their spawn last year because I have yet to see any fingerling LMB in my pond. Was getting concerned about lack of predators, but something worked over the small BG from last year.

Snrub,

You can buy individual bags here.

http://shop.hoosierpondpros.com/Feeders-Accessories-Food_c5.htm

Yes, I had looked over esshup's web site before and will likely order a bag or two just to try it. If cost was no object that would be the way to go. Can't remember how many bags I fed last year but it was probably over 20 and maybe as many as 30, so when the cost per pound doubles, it can add up.

I'm a slow learner. Went from feeding catfish food the first year and graduated to some of the Sportfish 32% and Aquamax 400, 500 and 600 by the end of the season last year. Was not even planning on feeding in the beginning when I built the pond. I'm slowly gravitating to better feed.

Just hate to give a significant portion of the cost of the feed to the UPS guy. Needs to be a better distribution system.

Shipping is included on optimal. I just ordered a half pallet and it came out to $41.34/bag with shipping.

Single bag of Optimal $38/bag plus $9 shipping for total of $47 delivered. My Aquamax last year was $42/bag but required a 90 minute round trip drive, so maybe add $1-$2 per bag. Optimal cost $1.17/lb; AM cost $.88/lb. I feed my caged BG around 150 lbs annually, so going with Optimal would represent a $43.50 investment increase annually. Not too bad for me, metrics might be different for others.

Thanks for the breakdown TJ. I just ordered a bag to try it.

Feeding caged fish would definitely make the cost of the food less significant in my opinion. If a person is going to all the trouble of cage raising, feeding the best feed available would definitely be time better spent.

Right now I am feeding about 16# of feed a day into my 4 ponds. About 4 surface acres total.

Edit: Just did a little figuring. If I fed at that rate the full season and fed till the time I quit last year would be just shy of two tons of feed total. Probably end up being more like 3000 pounds because I usually slack off during the hottest weather and I miss a few days at times.

snrub would that not grow 3000# of fish growth too?

I hope so but more likely like 1500 if I am lucky.

I don't think fish are to a 1 to 1 conversion yet.

Maybe 1500# of fish and 1500# of FA though. I'm good at growing FA!

I hadn't really broke down pricing until now...probably different numbers for others. Last Spring I was astonished at the increase in AM cost last year following a long wait to receive my order, it was a full $5-7 more than 2014 season. Imagine my further surprise when the LMB and 600 pellets were different sized, different color, different texture and smell...without so much as a head's up to their customer base. Still looking for alternatives...the Optimal doesn't throw well in my feeders, can only hand feed, and since I'm an absentee owner that doesn't work well - it's just too light for my specific feeder placement, winds, etc. Still a niche for someone to fill, just waiting to see who steps up with a good product coupled with affordable accessibility. I love Optimal's angle at getting the nutrients right and goal of growth plus longevity - but I need to feed and grow more than just Lepomis.

A lot lately on the Forum on fish food.

There is a lot going on in the area of studies on pelleted feeding at this time. The research both published and private is growing rapidly. I am not sure anyone can keep track of what all is in the works. I am sure no one knows all the answers yet so several factors should be considered.

Water quality

Goals

Species fed

cost/budget

degree of feeding - supplemental % from just a little to caged or RAS fish, etc.


Along the feeding spectrum there is a big difference between small supplemental feeding programs on larger waters to small systems (small ponds or RAS systems)with high biomass/fish loads. The question is what % of your fish's nutritional requirements/feed are being provided by pelleted feed. What you do and what you buy are directly tied to the above factors.

I agree Eric, take myself for an example. I feed AM600 only from End of March till mid October really 7 months and I go through 8 bags give or take a bag. I feed twice a day 1 to 2 seconds depending how hard they are hitting it.

I still have some very nice fish consistent 1 pound BG now and just caught one a month ago that was 1 lbs 8 ounces. I don't feed a ton but I think my ponds eco system is in the right place right now and everything is working together! I know not to take that for granted that's for sure cause I know it can get off just as fast but right now 8 bags a year is working great for me!

TJ, IIRC your dentist buddy said he saw the same amount of growth feeding 40# of Optimal as he saw with feeding 60# of Aquamax. Run your numbers again and see how that pans out.

Yes, in my store, the price of the food includes shipping.

That would be an amazing feat . 50 % more growth from the same protein % . Protien is where muscle growth comes from . Post the label so we all can see the contents .

Ewest, I think it also depends on the % of digestibility of the protein too (which isn't listed on any label that I know of). Which also (I believe) ties into the other amino acids, etc. that are in the food.

I'll see if I can get a picture of the label tomorrow.

TJ:

If you can drive for 90 minutes and it only costs you $2, I need to hire you to do all my deliveries for me! When do you want to start?

Per my post, I figured it at $2/bag, and I buy 10-12 every Spring, smaller order in late Summer to get me through the Fall. Assuming a cost of around $20-$25 for the drive, divided by 10-12 bags, that's about $2 additional per bag of AM. How's my story holding up?

My bags had no label, but maybe that's because it was in the prototype phase last Spring.

You're still hired at $16.67/hr plus you furnish your own vehicle, gas and insurance!

My Optima is the older bag also. No label. It does have an expiration date in May. I just bought two more bags that expire in May. I might go a little past that date, but I'm assuming that it will be fine. I only run the feeder two seconds a day. The fish seem to be hitting the Optima a little better than they did the AM500.