What Feed are you using?

[Sylvia Bernstein]

I'd love to know what everyone is using for their feed.  I'm at the end of my last giant bag of AquaMax and would like to try something else, plus sell something very high quality on our website.  What do you use?  What have you tried in the past and stopped using?  Thanks!

[David Hart]

thought I had a link....can't get it to work...? So I copied and pasted part of it......hope they don't mind.

One of our students makes her own fish food out of dried ground-up duckweed and black soldier fly larvae. She's a genius, because she figured out that this mixture floats, and has a good food value for her tilapia. However, in a commercial environment such as our farm, if we were to make our own fish food the way she makes hers, the labor involved would make the food cost us around $5 per pound, when we can buy commercial fish food for $0.64 per pound.

We have a design for a "small" fish food plant that we can build for $50,000 or so. It makes 1,000-1,500 lbs of fish food per day, and has a break-even point of 2 days of operation a week. Unfortunately, the amount of fish food used on our entire island is about 400 pounds per week, which makes a plant that makes 2,000-3,000 lbs per week a BAD commercial venture. When our island has expanded to need more fish food, this will be a good idea for a small business for someone to get into. But for now, we're still looking for an easier and better way to use cheap ingredients to make an acceptable fish food

[Kate Mink]

David Hart answers this perfectly.


Jim KNott said:

I Googled Friendly's and there are about 130.000 results ..... which one are you referring to ? (linky?)

[David Hart]

Just to be clear....When I said ' hope they don't mind'....'they' would be Friendlys'. That was part of, one of their news letters


David Hart said:

thought I had a link....can't get it to work...? So I copied and pasted part of it......hope they don't mind.

One of our students makes her own fish food out of dried ground-up duckweed and black soldier fly larvae. She's a genius, because she figured out that this mixture floats, and has a good food value for her tilapia. However, in a commercial environment such as our farm, if we were to make our own fish food the way she makes hers, the labor involved would make the food cost us around $5 per pound, when we can buy commercial fish food for $0.64 per pound.

We have a design for a "small" fish food plant that we can build for $50,000 or so. It makes 1,000-1,500 lbs of fish food per day, and has a break-even point of 2 days of operation a week. Unfortunately, the amount of fish food used on our entire island is about 400 pounds per week, which makes a plant that makes 2,000-3,000 lbs per week a BAD commercial venture. When our island has expanded to need more fish food, this will be a good idea for a small business for someone to get into. But for now, we're still looking for an easier and better way to use cheap ingredients to make an acceptable fish food

[Jim KNott]

So what is Friendly's, and where do i go to find their newsletters ....... I'm in a kinda remote part of the state of Montana, and I've never heard of Friendly's.

[Jim KNott]

THX, I believe the url is http://www.friendlyaquaponics.com/ I'm no computer GURU, so I suppose that would have to have html tags to work as a link ... I'll try to find some .....

Now we'll see if that works ;)

[Growitright Aquaponics]

I took the Friendly short course. It is a very in-depth approach to raft aquaponics. The course was excellent. Friendly is located in a climate unlike many locations in the US. In many places a greenhouse will be necessary. This is not the case in HI. All of the fundamentals are covered and there is a lot of opportunity to explore the farm. Tim and Susanne are the owners, they are also willing to assist their students, with questions and guidance after the course is completed. If you already have a good grasp of Aqua, check out their plans.

[Sahib Punjabi]

PetroAlgae Protein Concentrate Confirmed as Replacement for High Quality Fishmeal in Tilapia Farming by University of Idaho Study
New Source of Protein Can Replace Menhaden Fishmeal in a Variety of Farmed Fish Species

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/petroalgae-protein-concentrate-con...

[David Hart]

So.....after an entire 9 week study, this is what they come up with......
PPC does not change the composition of tilapia and does not increase tilapia mortality rates
So....no third eye and it doesn't kill the fish any quicker then normal.... :-)

Sahib Punjabi said:

PetroAlgae Protein Concentrate Confirmed as Replacement for High Quality Fishmeal in Tilapia Farming by University of Idaho Study
New Source of Protein Can Replace Menhaden Fishmeal in a Variety of Farmed Fish Species

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/petroalgae-protein-concentrate-con...

[David Hart]

LOL.....Kobus, I was waiting to see what you would say.... :D

A 9 generation study must of been out of question....the grant wasn't big enough... :-)

[TCLynx]

I had a read of the article. Don't let the Petro part of the name fool you, this isn't a petroleum product.
It actually sounds like a good thing. They have tested some farmed algae for use as a feed stock which is a good thing. Reducing pollution and also supplying something that might improve our fish feeds. Now if we can only find some ways to reduce the amount of GM corn and soy in the fish feeds.

By the way the algae is not some GM product. The only worry some aspect I see with the carbon capture algae farms is if there are other contaminants in the carbon emissions that would be bad.


David Hart said:

So.....after an entire 9 week study, this is what they come up with......
PPC does not change the composition of tilapia and does not increase tilapia mortality rates
So....no third eye and it doesn't kill the fish any quicker then normal.... :-)

Sahib Punjabi said:

PetroAlgae Protein Concentrate Confirmed as Replacement for High Quality Fishmeal in Tilapia Farming by University of Idaho Study
New Source of Protein Can Replace Menhaden Fishmeal in a Variety of Farmed Fish Species

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/petroalgae-protein-concentrate-con...

[David Hart]

I actually hope something like this will work well.
I just thought that making a 'claim' about the 'composition' of the fish in 'only a 9 week study' was a little pre-mature, to say the least.

I do wonder if the protein, being algae based, will 'perhaps' make the fish taste stronger...? I thought I have read claims of that ....? Some folks even stop feeding their fish for a few days before a 'harvest'.

I was going to mention, using the carp, in the mississippi to make fish foods. Instead of our "carp czar'' having it sent over seas. I'm talking millions of pounds of carp.

On second thought, I don't know if I'd want my fish eating protein from a river system with decades of industrial waste in it either..... :(

[TCLynx]

When talking about algae, fish feeds and the taste of fish. Well, some bluegreen algae can cause fish to get a "muddy" taste I've read so purging in cleaner water for a while before harvest might be a good idea if such incidents happen in a set up.

Also, algae being a really big part of the natural food for fish like tilapia and certain cultured carp species, I expect that using algae protein in the feed would be a good thing.

Definitely worth deeper study and longer research runs. I do hope a few of the universities that run aquaculture programs pick it up and run some longer term studies as this could make a big difference in commercial fish feeds.