Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok, please don't roast me, as I'm learning as I question.

I have a definite surplus of wild hogs at my disposal down here in SE Texas. I'm wondering if I could process the hog meat down to basically ground burger, and then feed it to tilapia. Now I know it won't be the "ideal" food base as far as vitamins and minerals, but I may be able to fix that too by adding in my own nutrient supplements if I can find them.

Mostly what I'm wondering is of it would even be feasible to use the land based animal proteins. I saw another thread that mentioned that fish have a shorter digestive tract which makes digestion of land animal proteins harder and less efficient. I have no idea if that's true or not, so if someone could validate I'd love it!

The other question is protein content. The tilapia need 50% protein as fry, but down to 36% protein for grow out. I've read a raw cut of wild pork is aboit 20% protein, but if cooked down to remove fats and moisture, I imagine that percentage would be much higher, and could certainly be honed in.

Again, maybe I'm wasting all my time (and others) to even chase this rabbit trail. The bigger picture is that I have a ton of hogs that need to be eradicated but don't want to waste them by simply shooting them. In intend to feed the same cooked burger above to my chickens with less concern, but if I could use it for my tilapia too that would be awesome!

Thoughts?

There is a thread on here some where talking about growing pirahna. Surely they could eat pig meat

The big challenge with doing your own diets is getting the balance right. There are a number of amino acids that fish need in greater abundance than are available in many terrestrial meats. The growth of the fish will be based on these "limiting" amino acids. For AP this may not be such a problem because the extra protein can be just turned into nutrients for the plants but you will have to be careful to not over load your filtration.

Also leave too much of the fat in and your fish will get sick.

It is possible but it is a lot of work and fiddling around to get it right.

Maybe crocodiles or alligators might be another choice instead of tilapia.

Oh and let us not forget Bull sharks.

Smoked bacon, smoked sausage the list goes on, why would you want to feed them to fish?

My thoughts as well.

Catfish would probably like this if the Tilapia don't.

Might wind up with an oily film on the water surface which probably wouldn't be good for the fish.

I appreciate the insight. I think I'm limited to tilapia or some native fish. I'm not about to play with gators or bull sharks. As for the bacon, sausage, etc, you have to understand, if have TOO much! These pigs are everywhere! I have a herd of over 20 on my farm. The problem is, a sow gives birth to 8 pigs and a dozen survive! They are very smart and very tough animals, and have no natural predators. So you see, the common practice for feral hog control is just to shoot them on sight and leave them lay for the coyotes. I'd rather not waste like that. That's why I'm trying to find alternative uses. Rest assured, I'll put a few in the freezer, but even with two upright freezers already, there's just not enough space!

I hope if the meat is cooked down, I was thinking boiled, and cooked very well done, that most of the fat would cook out. I don't know this for sure, but hope it true. And yes, I imagine it to be more work but once it's figured out any process can be streamlined to be faster and more efficient.

I'd stick with Stu's gator idea before I would invest that much time & effort into making my own fish food. At under $1.00 a pound for premium food...you would be better off selling the pork or maybe having some pig hunts and charging people to come and harvest some of your feral hogs. We have the same problems here, and those are a few options that I've heard around here. Capturing(trapping and/or dogs) and selling them live is another option. They taste a lot better if they are penned and corn fed for a period. Just watch those cutters...they will get you.lol

A lot of effort to save not a lot of money.

TCLynks comment of being careful about stepping over pounds to pick up pennies springs to mind.

A way that you could convert the meat into fish food would be via Black Soldier Flies but you could only supplement a fraction of the diet of your fish in this manner. Would be higher for fish that like a lot of fat like trout but still would need a lot of other food to complete the diet.

It is often challenging to let things go to waste but you don't want to be spending time and energy just for the sake of it.

Indeed, as an engineer I'm pretty keen on at least thinking efficiently. And I realize that it will be a lot of time and effort, and as it stands, I'm a young dad, soon of TWO, so time is VERY valuable to me. I honestly doubt I'll do it any time soon, if ever, but wanted to pitch it out for comments. I really appreciate everyone's feedback and honest opinions. I think for now the best route for me is certainly just buying commercial food.

Or get some bull sharks.