Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Apart from making my own (which I will do in its many forms) does anyone know where I can source organic fish food?

Cheers,

Mike

Mate I reckon if you could find some certified organic fish food, you would be onto a real winner. I don't think such a thing exists, somebody please correct me if I'm wrong

G'day Corny..... Have you got yourself some fish?

I haven't heard of any certified feed myself either...

What about a mix of Soldier Fly Larvae, duckweed and brown rice (cooked)?

I'm currently working with these three ingredients to produce rations for fish, quail and chickens.

If you purchased certified brown rice, you'd be totally organic.

I'm not mixing these ingredients......I feed them out one after the other. Cooked brown rice first, Soldier Fly larvae next and duckweed last.

This ration is high protein, high in vitamins and minerals, has a good spread of amino acids and is clean.

I've only just begun to use the brown rice and I have yet to do any comparative growth trials.......and I'm still working on the ingredient proportions that will provide the optimum ration for my fish and birds.

G'day Joel, no fish yet but I'm very close to buying some (most likely Jade Perch to start with). We've had 200mm of rain over the last week so have lots of fresh water to go into the fish tank.

It has been frustrating not having a system up and running already, but good things come to those who wait (or have to wait!) I guess

Thanks for that Gary, I will keep that in mind. I also want to grow lupins and I'm currently doing a heap of research into setting up a free range snail farm near the aquaponic system, the fish can have all the undersize snails.

I will let you know if I do come across anyone selling organic fish food.

Cheers!



PS: The forum's going great guns Joel, well done! I bet you get no rest now!

And Murrays site is also looking good, you just can't help but feel there's a change in the wind!




Hey! I see I'm still a Newbie!

Probably the longest running newbie we have here!

There's gotta be a prize in that!





awwww bugger ut just changed

haha!

I can always go back and delete some of your posts for you Corny!

You're too kind Jaymie :p

Hijacking this thread slightly from purchasing an organic fish food to growing/making an organic fish food what are our options.

I would really like to avoid commecial fish foods due to sustainability/organic reasons. I think trout is going to be my species of choice simply due to the temperatures that I get where I live. So what to feed them?

THe black soldier flies have been discussed in some depth and while they seem very easy to culture and harvest we need to be careful not to feed our fish too many BSF larvae apparently because of the high chitin and fat content. However one study (USING THE BLACK SOLDIER FLY, Hermetia illucens, AS A VALUE-ADDED TOOL FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF SWINE MANURE) showed that diets of upto 30% BSF didn't seem to cause problems in channel catfish but their results are a bit sketchy.

Earthworms have been discussed as well but I think i can remember that there was a limit of around 40% of diet could be supplemented by earthworms.

Assuming trout could also deal with a diet consiting of 30% BSF that leaves 30% of their food still to be found.

Suggestions?

Sprouted grain, whole meal flower and egg.

To trout?

Sprouted grain just thrown in? I wouldn't have thought a predator would have been interested in a seed with a green sprout hanging out of it. Or do they go for anything when kept in a dense hungry mass?

Whole meal flour and egg as a pellet/crumb?

I mean a pellet made out of those 3 ingredients. BTW - my perch will eat sprouted grains straight up.

I'm looking into the idea of making my own pellets, from pigeon pea, lupins and a few other things. Also my system will feed a snail farm...those snails too small to market or eat will go to the fish.

Did someone say snail farm? i would like to know more on this
like
how big the snail farm will be?
how do you stop the snails from escaping?
Would the farm be integrated into the same system as the fish