Fish Feed

[Sylvia Bernstein]

Has anyone found a source of feed for their tilapia that doesn't have fish meal in it?  I"m not having any luck finding anything I consider sustainable so far, and I'm too busy / lazy right now to start up a duckweed system.  Thoughts?

[David Waite]

Wow at 4 bucks a pound makes your fish about gold plated by the time its time to eat them.

Kirk said:

Sylvia,

We have purchased a new food from cargil that I have been using this spring and summer, with very good results.

 

I have on our site at http://www.westernpond.com/aquaponics.html

 

I can send you a free sample to try out and also have the tech info labels for it also.

 

let me know it you would like to test it, we are in Frederick Colorado..

 

Kirk

email

 

[Kirk]

 

Apparently folks that raise fish in aquaculture believe quality food is a priority to their bottom line.

Otherwise, there would not be a market for quality foods. (The Cargil company would not expend resources if it was not a needed product)

Cheap corn based foods build unhealthy and excessive fat in fish... But they are cheap .. As the price of commodities keep going up cheap foods will be harder to find

 

Kirk

 

 

 

David Waite said:

Wow at 4 bucks a pound makes your fish about gold plated by the time its time to eat them.

Kirk said:

Sylvia,

We have purchased a new food from cargil that I have been using this spring and summer, with very good results.

 

I have on our site at http://www.westernpond.com/aquaponics.html

 

I can send you a free sample to try out and also have the tech info labels for it also.

 

let me know it you would like to test it, we are in Frederick Colorado..

 

Kirk

email

 

[David Waite]

Apparently anybody who would spend  six dollars in feed to get a pound of fish has more money than sense. I think America might have the money for ridiculous priceing but most people will gravitate to quality feed at a fair price to achieve a quality product. Mine  which is purina 4000 is a quality feed a about a buck a pound. Yes there will alway be a group of people who think the more they spend is better. I classify these as the same people who feed lobster to their stupid cat. I hope aquaponics keeps some sense to it and doesnt become some yuppie infested colony of zipper heads. Just a thought from a man who has raised livestock his whole life and needs to make his money work and produce.

Kirk said:

 

Apparently folks that raise fish in aquaculture believe quality food is a priority to their bottom line.

Otherwise, there would not be a market for quality foods. (The Cargil company would not expend resources if it was not a needed product)

Cheap corn based foods build unhealthy and excessive fat in fish... But they are cheap .. As the price of commodities keep going up cheap foods will be harder to find

 

Kirk

 

 

 

David Waite said:

Wow at 4 bucks a pound makes your fish about gold plated by the time its time to eat them.

Kirk said:

Sylvia,

We have purchased a new food from cargil that I have been using this spring and summer, with very good results.

 

I have on our site at http://www.westernpond.com/aquaponics.html

 

I can send you a free sample to try out and also have the tech info labels for it also.

 

let me know it you would like to test it, we are in Frederick Colorado..

 

Kirk

email

 

[TCLynx]

Heck in my area, I get the Aquamax 4000 for about 40-60 cents a pound (but I have to call ahead and have them order it then drive up to a feed store that is a bit out of the way to get it at those prices.)  If I go to Aquatic Eco Systems, they sell it for around $50 for a 50# bag.

 

Now the Cargil might be high quality food and I expect if any aquaculture operations are using it, they have to be getting a far better price on bulk than any of us would see since remember that large aquaculture operations have to sell their fish at wholesale prices.

[Gina Cavaliero]

We use the AquaMax Pond Plus 3000 with 35% protein and get it for $.50 per pound.  I suppose if you were running an incredibly small system with minimal food inputs, anything over $1 a pound might be a consideration.  With the amount of feed going into a large population, obviously one must find a happy medium between price and quality.  The Purina Mills products seem to be that, however not getting past the fish meal issue.  I wonder if soy could be incorporated in to a feed to replace the fish meal as the protein source.  Thoughts anyone?

[TCLynx]

They already use too much soy in the fish foods for my liking.  (corn and soy both being rather poor on the omega 3:6 ratio)

 

However, there is much study going into algae culture lately and I think we will be hearing about algae based fish foods here in the future that may not only avoid the heavy use of wild caught fish meals but may also be able to improve the omega 3:6 ratio over the mostly corn/soy based fish feeds most of us are currently stuck using.

[David Waite]

The Purina plant is located here in Reno NV. I chated with the Quality Assurance officer on the fish meal issue. Purina is looking for a alternative but the main problem is not the protein it is the palatability of the fish feed without fish. He also noted that They dont buy the whole fish and use it in their feeds. It is by products of processing or fish guts and parts. This makes perfect sense to use the whole fish god created to me. Eat the fish and feed the rest to raise more hehe. He also stated that fish meal is unique to other proteins in that in aquaculture operations it keeps the water quality issues easier to manage. The floor of this plant is cleaner than most hospitals. They actually wear smocks and shoe covers in the cooking side. They really have a great product for a great price. For those of you who believe the more you spend is better well hell. Just send me 50.00 bucks and I ll send you some fresh chopped lobster rolled in caviar. About a tsp I think.

TCLynx said:

They already use too much soy in the fish foods for my liking.  (corn and soy both being rather poor on the omega 3:6 ratio)

 

However, there is much study going into algae culture lately and I think we will be hearing about algae based fish foods here in the future that may not only avoid the heavy use of wild caught fish meals but may also be able to improve the omega 3:6 ratio over the mostly corn/soy based fish feeds most of us are currently stuck using.

[Conrad Chin-Yee]

I just bought some Moringa trees and seeds and intend to eat the leaves and feed them to my fish. 

According to Optima of Africa, Ltd., a group that has been working with the tree in Tanzania, "25 grams daily of Moringa Leaf Powder will give a child" the following recommended daily allowances:

Protein 42%, Calcium 125%, Magnesium 61%, Potassium 41%, Iron 71%, Vitamin A 272%, and Vitamin C 22%. These numbers are particularly astounding; considering this nutrition is available when other food sources may be scarce.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/022272.html#ixzz1T994pAWD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE4C9aiEXz4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDSksjGNCA

[TCLynx]

I've been growing moringa for a few years now.  It can grow fast once it gets going in late spring.  It may tend to freeze back to the ground in winter though depending on how bad the freezes are any given year here in FL.

 

I will warn that it can be a really tedious plant to pick the leaves off of since they are tiny.  I never found my tilapia to be all that interested in eating the leaves though even when I let them wilt first.  Perhaps if one were to dry them and make a powder that you could then use mixed with other ingredients to make fish feed but that is quite a lot of work.

 

I'm hoping my trees will produce some fruit since I want to see how that is for cooking.  Very useful tree though.

[Gina Cavaliero]

We just got 5 Moringa trees this morning!  We were wondering if we could incorporate it into a fish feed because of the high protein content.  Do you grow it in your system TC?

[TCLynx]

No I'm not growing them in the system.  If they were growing in the system one would likely need to supplement extra iron and potassium beyond the norm.

[Theresa Baker]

I am extremely eager to try a new idea I have in using duckweed to it's fullest contribution, without having it consume nutrients that my beds can use for plants destined for MY table.  It's great that duckweed is a heavy feeder, but that means I DON'T want to be using my fish water to cultivate it.  

I am experimenting with using chicken manure (highly diluted) to fortify the nitrogen and micro-nutrients to feed independent duckweed ponds.  I am working to make sure that I am not going to possibly introduce unwanted bacteria from the chickens in feeding the fish, but it WILL (potentially) created a HUGE savings in BEDDING MATERIAL that I currently PURCHASE for my chickens in their laying house.  I have read several articles about how duckweed is being adapted to treating HUMAN SEWAGE and that is how the idea was started... I am very encouraged by what I have learned so far.

 

My thought was to design a system where the chicken droppings would fall through their roosts at night directly into some sort of shallow, water-filled receptacle for use in feeding a passive duckweed pond.  If I have success with this, I will post it up with pictures.  Composting the VERY hot, highly odorous chicken manure is one of my LEAST favorite aspects of my farm, and it seems like the duckweed could take a lot of that workload away from me AND provide a huge amount of supplemental Tilapia feed.

 

Thoughts?