Azolla

[Chi Ma]

Found this article pretty interesting. Another alternative to duckweed as animal feed.

 

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/GreenManureCrops/azolla...

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi Chi,
People here use it for rabbit,goat,and cow feed. i tried it with the Tilapia but they won't have anything to do with it.I guess if we process it as part of a complete fish food pellet it may make a difference.

[Kate Mink]

You do NOT want to get Azolla in your aquaponic system! It gums up the works, takes nutrients away from crop plants,and is almost impossible to get rid of. Several people out here, including me, experimented with it as potential tilapia feed, but my omnivorous ones (Oreochromis mossambicus - which are most common) don't really like it.There's a herbivorous tilapia that isn't yet generally approved, they may eat it, but no real info on it yet. Anyway, be VERY wary of Azolla, it has all the downsides of duckweed.

[Chi Ma]

I have it and my fish eat it. I have no problems with it in my tanks because the water is constantly moving which is not ideal for Azolla propagation. I grow it in buckets. YMMV. 

Kate Mink said:

You do NOT want to get Azolla in your aquaponic system! It gums up the works, takes nutrients away from crop plants,and is almost impossible to get rid of. Several people out here, including me, experimented with it as potential tilapia feed, but my omnivorous ones (Oreochromis mossambicus - which are most common) don't really like it.There's a herbivorous tilapia that isn't yet generally approved, they may eat it, but no real info on it yet. Anyway, be VERY wary of Azolla, it has all the downsides of duckweed.

[Kate Mink]

THAT's interesting. My water's constantly moving, too... hm, I am feeding my fish regular food, too, maybe they were just not hungry enough to eat the Azolla. You have tilapia?

 

kate
Chi Ma said:

I have it and my fish eat it. I have no problems with it in my tanks because the water is constantly moving which is not ideal for Azolla propagation. I grow it in buckets. YMMV. 

Kate Mink said:

You do NOT want to get Azolla in your aquaponic system! It gums up the works, takes nutrients away from crop plants,and is almost impossible to get rid of. Several people out here, including me, experimented with it as potential tilapia feed, but my omnivorous ones (Oreochromis mossambicus - which are most common) don't really like it.There's a herbivorous tilapia that isn't yet generally approved, they may eat it, but no real info on it yet. Anyway, be VERY wary of Azolla, it has all the downsides of duckweed.

[Chi Ma]

I have tilapia, minnows, goldfish and crayfish. The key for me is I skip regular feeding a day or two. They get hungry and eat the Azolla. I like toi switch up the mnenu a lil bit so they don't get too finicky.