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Making your own pellets?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kobus Jooste on
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Why not feed it to them straight up? I mean freeze it whole or something. Artemia, daphnia, bloodworm and all those types of frozen cubes I buy as aquarium treats are all whole frozen. I may suggest that you should get an idea of how much protein is in your soldier fly and worm mix, because the higher you push that, the more Ammonia you will be generating. Also, some binder will be useful in keeping the pellet together during the feed - the last thing you want is it all going into a cloud of mush as it hits the water.
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Also don't use your wife's blender. If you are going to, just don't tell her :)
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Permalink Reply by Eric Warwick on
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First of all I'm 13, second it will be a new one allocated for that purpose. :)
Kobus Jooste said:
Also don't use your wife's blender. If you are going to, just don't tell her
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Because, I'm not there everyday. Yes, well I'll either fix the mix or add more plants.
Kobus Jooste said:
Why not feed it to them straight up? I mean freeze it whole or something. Artemia, daphnia, bloodworm and all those types of frozen cubes I buy as aquarium treats are all whole frozen. I may suggest that you should get an idea of how much protein is in your soldier fly and worm mix, because the higher you push that, the more Ammonia you will be generating. Also, some binder will be useful in keeping the pellet together during the feed - the last thing you want is it all going into a cloud of mush as it hits the water.
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May I suggest fixing the mix. It is not just about plants but also your mineralization requirements. As an exercise in protein management, take Dr Lennard's calculator, plug in your system design and then fiddle with the protein content of your feed. A few percent this way or that can throw the whole set-up out of whack.
Eric Warwick said:Because, I'm not there everyday. Yes, well I'll either fix the mix or add more plants.
Kobus Jooste said:Why not feed it to them straight up? I mean freeze it whole or something. Artemia, daphnia, bloodworm and all those types of frozen cubes I buy as aquarium treats are all whole frozen. I may suggest that you should get an idea of how much protein is in your soldier fly and worm mix, because the higher you push that, the more Ammonia you will be generating. Also, some binder will be useful in keeping the pellet together during the feed - the last thing you want is it all going into a cloud of mush as it hits the water.
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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on
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Yea, I've seen some drastic water quality issues when using different feeds.
Now I'm a bit worried about the idea of mixing up a mash and then freezing it and then expecting to be able to use it in an automatic feeder. I'm worried that you are likely to get a sticky mush that will thaw and gunk up the feeder and get rancid.
This is perhaps more of a recipe and preparation issue. Maybe something when you would mix it with some binder and perhaps press it through a meat grinder to make noodles that you could dry or bake to make something of your own pellet?
The whole frozen bsf larva might be easier to use in a feeder but there could be challenges there too.
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Permalink Reply by George T on
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A pellet machine might be quite the investment but If the worms and larvae were mixed with a suitable plant material (I have no idea what) from the aquaponics system, dried somewhat and then made into pellets, possibly it would work. It would be an interesting thing to try.
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Permalink Reply by RupertofOZ on
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Black Sildier Fly, while very high in protein.. are aslo very high in fat content.
For a while they were very popular as at least a supplementary feed in the aquaculture industry... but most have now gone away from them because of the fat content...
Those that continue are generally rendering the larvae down to reduce the fat content...
Even so... BSF are not a complete balanced feed... especially for trout....
Maximising fish protein growth in terms of feed... is all about amino acid composition as much as raw protein composition...
And amino acid composition of feeds are determined by the "limiting amino acid" profile... which can be species specific...
Sorry, but while BSF, and other feeds can be good supplements... they are not complete diets...
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I've read (in the Freshwater Aquaculture book that Cosmo lent me) that midge larva can really improve tilapia growth far beyond the actual weight of the larva eaten. I suspect that they may provide one of the more limiting amino acids. And actually there is some research into growing midge larva as fish feed.
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Freshwater rainbow trout eat bugs native to my area, including bsfl, also some small river fish, zoo-plankton, algae, worms, duckweed might be palatable. Also the commercial fish feed, corn and soybeans with some by-catch, is not complete, so I want to put natural foods into the pellets. This means anything that can be cultured will help feed the fish. Also most of the fish feed is lipids and protein, comparable to bsfl, so the worms I hope will counteract that, otherwise small fish when they are a year old (I don't know the exact time) should be enough.
RupertofOZ said:Black Sildier Fly, while very high in protein.. are aslo very high in fat content.
For a while they were very popular as at least a supplementary feed in the aquaculture industry... but most have now gone away from them because of the fat content...
Those that continue are generally rendering the larvae down to reduce the fat content...
Even so... BSF are not a complete balanced feed... especially for trout....
Maximising fish protein growth in terms of feed... is all about amino acid composition as much as raw protein composition...
And amino acid composition of feeds are determined by the "limiting amino acid" profile... which can be species specific...
Sorry, but while BSF, and other feeds can be good supplements... they are not complete diets...
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I actually expect that worms have some of the same drawbacks as the bsf, high in fat as I've heard of people rendering worms to remove some of the fat for a higher protein worm meal.
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Well... that was kind of expected of worms, but if I see problems with the fish (not sure which yet trout is likely) or, I'll do more research; I should expect to have somethings wrong. You could say that about any aquacultred fish; just because it is different doesn't mean it is worse. Now if my fish die then oh...
TCLynx said:
I actually expect that worms have some of the same drawbacks as the bsf, high in fat as I've heard of people rendering worms to remove some of the fat for a higher protein worm meal.
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