Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Folks! I'm hashing out what fish I want to grow but have questions about what brand(s) fish chow and where to find it. I'd like to grow Tilapia and probably some bluegills too. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Bluegills can handle cold waters very nicely, but Tilapia will die at about 49F

So, if you decide to go with Tilapia, you got to keep your water above 75F if you want them to grow well.

If you got a Tractor supply store around, go there for your fish food. I use three different fish food and I get all of them from TS. I also make my own fish food when I got time.
I use these:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/sportsman- ... b--1077725

http://www.tractorsupply.com/sportsman- ... ed-1077733

There is one more I get from them, but I could not find it in their website.

I've not been happy with the fish chow at the Tractor supply around here.
I've done far better with the Aquamax 4000 which is a purina mills product. I check the web to find purina mills dealers (other than TS since they don't special order feed here) that will get a bag on the next truck for me and what the cost will be. I prefer they NOT stock in regularly but instead I find out their ordering and deliver schedule so I know when I need to order it to have it on the weekly delivery. You don't want fish feed that sits around on a shelf. Fish feeds are too high in oils and protein and will spoil if stocked on a shelf or in a warehouse for long. The Aquamax 4000 is a dense culture feed developed for fish in tank culture and it is a complete feed for omnivorous fish (basically that means it is fine for fish like tilapia, bluegill and catfish I've used it for all three.) I once got some of their 400 grower feed, I don't recommend it. I think it has too much feather meal or something else that the fish find undigestable as they didn't do very well on it.

I grow mostly channel catfish and some bluegill. I gave up on tilapia after too hard winters here in FL where I had to resort to running water from the hot water heater out to them just to keep them alive in the greenhouse during a cold spell. The catfish grow so much bigger so much faster that they are our favorite. Bluegill are good for those people who refuse to eat fish without scales.

There are other fish feeds that would be fine. The key is to look for feeds developed as complete feeds. There are "pond" diets out there that are really just meant as supplemental feeds to help grow fish in natural ponds a little faster but they don't necessarily provide the complete nutrients needed to grow fish (and the plants) fast and healthy. Look for something designed for fish in tank culture or being farmed. Pellets designed to fatten up the game fish in the farm pond are not necessarily going to provide you with good fertilizer for your aquaponics system. Also feeds developed for ornamental ponds or aquarium are also not designed to provide complete nutrition, they are usually designed to keep the fish alive with the least need for water changes (read that as with the least amount of nutrients possible.) There for those feeds might not provide good balanced nutrients for your plants or the fish. Ornamental feeds are usually just keeping the fish alive and not eating each other while minimizing the work of water changes as much as possible. In aquaponics that would be counter productive since we want the nutrients to grow our veggies.

Thanks for the info Zubin! I was checking out TS's food earlier today along with some other components for the system, but wasn't sure that it would work so well with the tilapia. We're building a greenhouse, so cold temps won't be much of an issue:)

TCLynx- I'll defintely look into Purina! I think the local farm store might be a dealer and I could potentially order from them. Do (I guess did since you're not doing tilapia anymore) you get the fingerling chow for tilapia or just go with the 4000?