Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Has anyone on this forum actually had their fish sent to a lab for chemical analysis.?

For some time I have been wondering just how does the nutritional breakdown of my fish (currently Atlantic Salmon, but next Trout) compare with fish grown in a commercial aquaculture environment and wild caught fish.

Now there is a heap of info on the Aquaculture and wild side of things, but I am yet to see any laboratory results for AP.. Does anyone know if any data exists?

Given that I am feeding my fish on a combination of commercial feed, any bug I find in the garden and fly maggots - HFLM (see thread viewtopic.php?f=26&t=8531&st=0&sk=t&sd=a), and the occasional BSF, I am extremely curious to know if AP fish are as nutritional as those mentioned above. Or are they superior to commercial raised fish, or are they inferior depending on the feed? As many AP enthusiasts like myself throw all sorts of things into their tanks, I thought it to be a relevant question.

Hence, I have arranged to send off one fish to a food science and technology lab to have it analysed.

Once the fish reaches 500gms in a couple of months, off it will go in the name of research (and my curious mind).

I want to know what I am eating and given that my methods of feeding are probably replicated in most domestic AP systems i.e. commercial feed, bugs, HFLM, BSF, and so forth, it is probably quite relevant. I also want to know if AP raised fish in domestic systems are worth the input when finally put into the pan....

nice one Tony. Will await your results!

nice one Tony

... Is that service at a cost, Tony? Or is it done by a research lab - at say - UTAS?

I am trying to get a 'favour' done by someone at UTas, TAFI, or DSTO but at this stage it will be at my own cost. I expect a ball park figure to be a $200 or so but I'm just guessing. Will let you know.

$200 will be about right Tony, but it's going to depend on what components you're asking for.

If you want a lot of detail then the cost is going to climb. For aorund that price you should get the basic info that you get on the side of a food packet.

I'm hoping to get a full blown analysis so I would like quite a lot of detail, and happy to pay for it. If it costs up to $500 that's ok too. I'm looking at AP production long term, so I really do want to know what I am eating.

I have a number of contacts in the aquaculture research and uni system so fingers crossed I can get something done on the side..

Who knows, there may be a future journal paper in it..!

Good stuff to find out. I expect data will vary according to what you are feeding and any contaminants in the water.

....Waiting for more....

good point if only id done fish biology i could do it for ya