Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Anyone fed Purslane to their fish?


http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/abstract/11/4/374

Also:
http://landscaping.about.com/cs/weedsdi ... rslane.htm

Hi Cyara, I discovered purslane here on Magnetic Island in the Great Barrier Reef. It appeared as a weed in the garden and I replanted it into a protected area and it grew fantastically well in the hottest part of summer. I havent started my AP system yet but am considering purslane would be a very good veg to grow for us not just the fish. Its a great salad filler with a nice crisp texture. If I hadnt protected it behind wire the possums and wallabies would have knocked it off very quickly. The Aboriginal name for it I learned is munyaroo.

I just ordered some for my fish and sheep

its native.

theres cultivated forms that are larger and more yellow, or the local native forms

bare, disturbed and enriched soils are where youll usually find it

theres a related species that cattle love (and elephants)
Portulacaria afra - aka small leaf Jade plant/elephant bush

the Portulacaceae has a few interesting members
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portulacaceae

other nutritious related plants are

Talinum paniculatum
Talinum triangulare
Montia perfoliata
Claytonia perfoliata

all used as nutritious vegetables superior to domesticates
all tender, nutritious, fast growing
probably also liked by herbivorous fish

Interesting JM... had to learn about Portulacaria afra from you... and is native to here! Never even knew about it and I am a keen botanist. Thanks for the info. Going to get some. Obviously worthwhile from the bit of reading I have done. http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week216.shtml

Just realised.... is what I know as the Spekboom. I must definitely get it. Very useful. Never realised how useful till your post.

i meant to say, native to australia, just so people go looking for it in the cracks of thier pavemnent before they rush out and spend good money trying to buy it!

but as far as i can tell its a cosmopolitan species anyway, on every continent except antarctica
(P olereacea)
my guess? the fine seeds probably being transported long ago by transcontinental migratory birds who'd been dabbling around or grazing the plants.

glad my info helped

ive given P afra to a friend who lives on a dry hillside and always has problems getting good greenfeed for his milking goats. i hope it trials well. it couldnt be any tougher a plant, while still being so palatable.

ive got T triangulare, and i sometimes see T paniculatum as a 'weed' around the place in gardens.
both are good as a tender leaf veg in soups

Couldn't track the other names for here in South Africa.... only P. afra. It really does look like a purslane tree! Never realised that before. Hope the trials with the goats work out too.... be interested to know results.

I've tried feeding Purslane to the tilapia and to my chickens. They don't seem to be too keen on it but I'll keep trying.

Other plants that some people think of as weeds that I do know the Tilapia like include sweet potato vine leaves.

Just a thought ...

Young parts of the stems of banana trees are sometimes used as food for people in Burma. I was wondering if anyone has tried, this with fish, maybe the leaves too?

People feed potato to yabbies yeah?

id probably try banana pith for them before i tried it on fish

do you think BSF would eat it too?

i know worms like banana trash and logs as a bedding

Oh I'm sure bsf would love banana plant parts almost as much as worms do.

As a result of this thread .. I threw a huge handful of clover into my little tilapia fish tub.

I continued feed them goldfish pellets.

Clover leaves were gone in 2 days. Only stalks remaining.

I think my fish benefitted from tacling roughage (cellulose) and acces to minerals. - including iron from greenstuff ie. chlorphyyll...

May I suggest that we try to find non-toxic garden weeds that can help us boost / supplement fish diet regards any mineral deficits that can arise from pellets only diet.


Big benefit .. no cost!

I supplement my canary's grain diet with green weeds out of the garden. He is thriving.

If I may be so bold ...

I bet .. that if a one family quantity of food scraps were collected daily and fed to fish ( including trimmigs from fresh vegetables, dead leaves, roots, bones, scrapings from the plates etc. etc..) were put into a large enough tilapia pond .. the fish would thrive enough to supply meat and veggies for the family!

I think maybe we could / should look at the option of buying factory fish food to be an un-necessary option.

Is it worth experimenting with the idea of doing and experiment .. to see if there is a difference regards feeding our fish .. a) purchased food b) food scraps, and garden trimmings, compost products and any other free stuff for a start?

Whatever is initially unpallatable to fish could be worm composted and ongoing maybe worms can be fed to the fish, manure fed to fish, also animals including some of the roaches, slaters, maggots and other composting animals.

Would be great if anyone has two sperate systems ... so they can compare ...

sorry for spelling mistakes ..

Yes. Is the way I am thinking. Get off the grid in every way possible... if only to reduce costs.... but have already proved it improves health of fish. Unusual cold tolerance for the type of fish I have.... tilapia mossambicus. I use no heating at all and on occasion we have water ice up to an inch... rare... but happens.

Wild and kitchen-scrap (selective) fed fish are healthier to eat too I think because of the varied diet. And don't forget Moringa

My fish are doing great on all kinds of things. The factor is always protein for growth. But I plan to use slaughter waste of chickens/quail to feed the fish one day.... And have got a design of a maggotry almost done now... just one kink to iron out in stopping them from over-shooting the harvesting holes. Waiting for enough plastic milk cartons to be used to cut out the part needed! If get this working well I will make lots for the birds too. Really cheap design. Can post once proven .... if anyone interested. No hurry though...my fish have practically gone into hibernation. They will need warming up in the new pond to keep them eating properly through winter. Stopped about 3 weeks ago.

Sorry I can't give you a comparison J7au... but have become alergic to spending the crazy cost of pellets locally .... so have come off them. I will have too many fish in the end to want to go the commercial pellet route. In non-AP ponds I will use algae soup too for omega 3 and zooplankton benefits.

Interesting about the clover.