fish food

[Daniel Budfuloski]

  I've just finished cycling my system and I'm about to pick up some simple goldfish...  something that i can kind of practice my aquaponics with until i get the hang of it...  I know that fish food and what they excrete is a direct reflection of what kind of nutrients the plants will receive from when the bacteria break down their stuff... so, my question is this.  What is the best kind of dry fish food that i can pick up for my fish?  Later i want to grow some duckweed, but don't have the time to do this quite yet...

[TCLynx]

for Goldfish, you are probably fine with most any fish food but the higher protein feeds available at the pet store or some good quality Koi feed (for growing out prize fish not the stuff that talks about keeping the water crystal clear) will probably give you the better plant growth.

As for growing food fish, for things like tilapia, catfish and bluegill I've done well with aquamax 4000 which I get from a feed store that is a Purina Dealer.  I've found it works well enough and gives me good plant growth.

But I think there are now some new food choices out there and I'll be testing some out here shortly.

[Dino Zucchi]

anyone have some fish food name brands ect to help increase the water NPK ratings. I read feeding my koi worms would be a help, but that seems expensive. My worm farm is not producing worms fast enough for that. 

[TCLynx]

I've been using Aquamax 4000 it is a dense culture feed designed for use in recirculating aquaculture to be a complete feed for omnivorous fish (it works for catfish, tilapia and bluegill so far in my experience.  My koi and goldfish eat it too and they seem ok.)

Anyway, Aquamax is a Purina Mills product.  You can go to their web site and find local dealers and call them up to see how much it would cost to get a bag of it put on the next truck (it comes in 50 lb bags.)

Or go online to aquatic eco systems and look up some of their fish feeds you can get in smaller quantities.