Fish food to order or get locally in Houston

dannybagpipes1

Hello All! What kind of fish food have you guys used and liked in the US whether ordered on the internet or bought in a store in the Houston, TX area.

I am interested in feeding Tilapia.

Thanks!

rininger85

I have Purina Aquamax 400 that I grind in to dust for tilapia fry, then feed whole once they are bigger, and purina aquamax 500 that I am feeding once they got bigger... I was told I could switch to Purina Aquamax 4000 once they hit a certain size, but cannot find the 4000 locally, whereas the 500 is available locally so it's cheaper even though its more protein = more expensive, being available locally is still cheaper than special order. Anyplace that gets Purina foods for other animals should be able to special order Aquamax for you, as long as they don't charge a ridiculous amount for special order.

recommendation for tilapia feed (if going the aquamax route)
https://lakewaytilapia.com/Tilapia_Food_For_Sale.php

Maui’s Handmaiden

rininger85 wrote:

I have Purina Aquamax 400 that I grind in to dust for tilapia fry, then feed whole once they are bigger, and purina aquamax 500 that I am feeding once they got bigger... I was told I could switch to Purina Aquamax 4000 once they hit a certain size, but cannot find the 4000 locally, whereas the 500 is available locally so it's cheaper even though its more protein = more expensive, being available locally is still cheaper than special order. Anyplace that gets Purina foods for other animals should be able to special order Aquamax for you, as long as they don't charge a ridiculous amount for special order.

recommendation for tilapia feed (if going the aquamax route)
https://lakewaytilapia.com/Tilapia_Food_For_Sale.php

I use the same here. It also comes down to what I have local. Pretty sure I’m using AquaMax Pond 4000. Since that is all they sell here. I have a mortar and pestle that I grind them for the smaller tilapia.

BroHay

Grower/supplier out of KC area that has a range of food for all stages and even different species. They even have non-GMO.

Allied Aqua

I have ordered parts and equipment from them in the past with no issue. The last order, got some koi food as well as well as to try because I cannot afford the soon to be rising price tag of 250/50lb bag :shocked:

Adam

rininger85

say what????? $250/50lbs??? damn dude you should bring your trailer someplace else and pick up some feed and become your own reseller. You could make a killing (well maybe not if there are only like 2 guys in NM who feed their fish). I think I paid $69/50lbs of Aquamax 400 because it was special order and felt like I was being robbed. I think my Aquamax 500 was like $42/50lbs -- the Aquamax 500 only lasted me about a year but the Aquamax 400 has lasted me a year and probably still have 20-30lbs of it left that will get me close to a second year. I repackaged it all in to smaller packages and vacuum sealed them because they take so long to use them.

BroHay

Well, it was fine when a 3 LB bag (20.00) would last 4-5 months.

But that is a good idea on vacuum sealing for freshness. It'll be awhile before I get up to the levels needed to be going through a 50lb bag every 30 days....

rininger85

BroHay wrote:

Well, it was fine when a 3 LB bag (20.00) would last 4-5 months.

But that is a good idea on vacuum sealing for freshness. It'll be awhile before I get up to the levels needed to be going through a 50lb bag every 30 days....

Initially I was a bit shocked by the $69/50lbs of AM400 and $42/50lbs of AM500, and I will probably still shop the other Purina dealers in the area to see if it was a special order fee or if it really costs that much before I buy the next bag. I did see where people were selling the 3 lbs bags etc. for people who didn't want to spend the money on 50lbs of feed... and originally I posted an ad on craigslist to try and sell some of what I had because I wasn't sure how long it would take me to use 50lbs, but I never got anyone interested in buying any even though I undercut the prices anyone could get it online for in those smaller quantities... but since I vacuum sealed everything I think it should be OK to go 2 years on a bag...

I'm still a long way from needing more than a bag per year as well... I've raised 24 rainbow trout, 120ish blue Tilapia (plus fed another 100+ tilapia that I ended up giving to a friend to put in his pond for natural algae control / feeder fish for his bass that I fed until they were 2-3" before giving them away), 10 Tilapia in my breeder tank, and now feeding 25 hybrid bluegills and 25 channel catfish still on my original 2 bags of feed. So it's not that terrible once you get a feel for how much you need... I haven't calculated out what it costs me per fish yet... those expensive fishing trips might not look so expensive if I did that...hmm...)

dstjohn99

I have used Aquamax. It was about $40 per 50#bag and my local feed store would order it for no extra charge. It took a week for them to get it on their regular delivery truck which was okay. But I've since switched to Star Mills tilapia feed for the smaller pellet size (1/8) is suitable for a wide range of fish sizes. They also have the Star Mills food in stock at about $35/50#.

The first couple years a bag would last a year, but now I have 150 cats and ~100 tilapia. I'm using a bag every two months. I use higher protein / smaller pellets for fingerlings and grind for fry. For that I ordered Premium Fish Foods 10# bag (slow sinking) and vacuum seal the unused portion. A bit pricey but the small fish grow so fast I don't think I could ever use 50# of the high protein tiny pellets.

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