Calcium Montmorillonite Clay ??

On Wed, 25 May 2005 20:48:31 GMT, "George"
wrote:

snip
===Fish food bought at pet shops generally cost more per pound than a pound of
===Sirloin steak at a grocery store (especially marine fish food). This is
===especially obcene when you consider that much of the product that goes into
===it is by and large the leftovers from animal rendering plants and grain
===processing plants with a little bit of choline chloride thrown in for good
===measure (a product which the company my brother works for makes in huge
===quantities for pennies for animal feed). Having said that, some stores
===understand how obcenely expensive these products are. I frequent a garden
===pond shop that is located about 5 miles from my home. They sell a generic
===food that they buy in bulk and sell for about $1.99 for one pound bags, and
===they still make a profit from it. Many farmers supply stores sell pond
===fish food to farmers in bulk for far less than that per pound. Those who
===say that Koi have special nutritional needs might think about what they are
===paying for that little extra amount of nutition, which I have no doubt adds
===little value to their food. If you are concerned about what your fish eat,
===you can always suppliment their diet with inexpensive natural foods that
===are likely to be much better for them in the long fun. I have found that
===when I feed my catfish his generic food, the Koi prefer it to their own
===food (which is also generic), and will play a game of cat and mouse with
===the catfish just for the chance to get a morsel or two of the catfish food.
===I have yet to loose a single fish because of their diet.
===
Been feeding a local prepared POnd Fish food now for years that a
local mill here makes for under $10.00 for 50# sack and my koi, GF and
catfish are all grwoing just fine......I have them in a natural pond
so they are supplementing foods with what they find there, but if it
was for me having to pay for KOI food, I seriously doubt I would pay
the kind of money they ask for it. Kaytee makes a good premium feed,
which is about $18.00 for 10# and is available at Petsmart, which is
not too bad pricewise when you consider what other brands with equal
ingredients cost. Often times they have it on sale and then I pick up
a few bags but mine eat the local feed as readily as koi feed, so its
more just to satisfy my own self they are getting what they
"should-hopefully" be getting in regards to nourishment.


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

George wrote in part:

Those who
say that Koi have special nutritional needs might think about what they are
paying for that little extra amount of nutition, which I have no doubt adds
little value to their food. If you are concerned about what your fish eat,
you can always suppliment their diet with inexpensive natural foods that
are likely to be much better for them in the long fun.

Not in my case, I feed a koi food because it is easier on my filtration.
Less waste coming out. Yes, koi probably get enough from the cheaper foods,
but they usually need to eat more to get it, the rest is feeding the
filter.

Similar to dog foods, feed the cheaper brands and they will state so many
cups/lb of dog. A higher quality brand will show less cups/lb of dog, thus
less dog doo to pick off the lawn, all because they pack more quality into
every cup. Cup by cup, you won't save much. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

"~ janj JJsPond.us" wrote in message
...
George wrote in part:

Those who
say that Koi have special nutritional needs might think about what they
are
paying for that little extra amount of nutition, which I have no doubt
adds
little value to their food. If you are concerned about what your fish
eat,
you can always suppliment their diet with inexpensive natural foods that
are likely to be much better for them in the long fun.

Not in my case, I feed a koi food because it is easier on my filtration.
Less waste coming out. Yes, koi probably get enough from the cheaper
foods,
but they usually need to eat more to get it, the rest is feeding the
filter.

Similar to dog foods, feed the cheaper brands and they will state so many
cups/lb of dog. A higher quality brand will show less cups/lb of dog,
thus
less dog doo to pick off the lawn, all because they pack more quality
into
every cup. Cup by cup, you won't save much. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

I've been feeding my koi, shubukans, goldfish and channel cat buld foods
for three years with no problems. They are all fat and sassy, and the
filter is fine. I never feed them more than once per day, and never feed
them any more than they would get if I used a premium brand.

artificial outdoor ponds. Some might find it "greedly" for you (and
me) to engage in excess like that when place problem here exists in
the world.

So true. :-( ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

On Wed, 25 May 2005 08:16:50 -0700, ~ janj JJsPond.us
wrote:

===artificial outdoor ponds. Some might find it "greedly" for you (and
===me) to engage in excess like that when place problem here exists in
===the world.
===
===So true. :-( ~ jan
===
=== ~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Yes, especially for the prices the koi clay fetches, as compared to a
100# bag of it locally for under $6.00. Maybe I need to buy a few bags
and peddle it on ebay for a slight fee as well as my excess crop of
frog bit, water clover, duck weed, parrots feather , water snowflake
and sensitive fern..........which almost seems like a weekly chore to
keep under control anymore.

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!

~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

What everyone also needs to remember is marketing, distribution and
perceived value. Golf ball makers are great at marketing the same
product under different names to different markets and very different
prices. The very same golf ball you buy at Wally World for $.25 may be
sold at a high end golf shop for $2.00 a pop. Same ball, different
package and very different marketing techniques.
While the Wally world ball may get no marketing, the high end ball may
be sponsoring a televised golf tournament. It also has a much nicer
package. But the biggest factor is that folks at the high end golf
store aren't there to buy 25 cent golf balls and they won't.

I'm not defending overpriced resellers (I've seen the same items vary in
price by factors of 3 or more), but you are talking very low volumes and
a niche market. To market a bag of clay to Koi folks is a much
different thing than marketing to cat lovers.

Mark B.

"mark Bannister" wrote in message
...
I'm not defending overpriced resellers (I've seen the same items vary in
price by factors of 3 or more), but you are talking very low volumes and
a niche market. To market a bag of clay to Koi folks is a much
different thing than marketing to cat lovers.

Mark B.
===========================
Marketing? The worst case I ever saw was the jeans a "snob" friend of mine
bought at the Mall some time ago. She's too good to shop at Wally-World.
She feels the shops at the Mall have better "quality" since they're so
expensive. She paid $49.99 for a pair of jeans that looked very familiar to
me. I checked my stock of jeans and sure enough - I had the same exact pair
and paid $16.99 for them. Only the label was different and in a different
place. We could find no other difference.

The prices of things for ornamental fish hobbyists are obscene........

McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o