Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello,

I have a small system with 8 trout. I have a worm bin, but I would also like to get BSLF. There are sellers on ebay but if anyone has lots for cheap that would that be great

-David

+1nor

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Im about to buy mine from theaquaponicsource com unless anything comes up on this thread

How effecient is a worm farm for fish food? I have rabbit poop from my meat hutches and compost ....

Reposting lost post:

Hi,

I was looking at theaquaponicsource and it appeared it me that the biopod did not come with ANY live flies.

I don't think my vegetable scrap worm bin will be able to feed even my 8 trout, but I am doing it as a supplement to pellets. With your rabbit poop, you may be able to get more biomass though.

Good luck,

Don't use rabbit poop... or any manure from warm blooded animals...

Risk of e-coli and salmonella...

A worm bin is extremely easy to keep. Just a plastic bin filled with shredded newspaper or cardboard. Add rabbit manure for food. Keep damp. That's it. The worms will multiply quickly and you'll have a never ending source.

Red wigglers would probably be best because of their size. 1-3". Larger varieties include the african nightcrawler and european nightcrawler.

Thanks Machanist, I love worms.

I think I'll buy 300 BSFL off ebay to get me started.

neither worms nor BSF larva are going to be a complete feed for fish. BSF don't survive year round in New Hampshire. I think you need to be warmer than zone 7 to have them return each year and would need to keep the bin warm through winter to overwinter them. I'm in FL and they usually vanish for about 3 months of the year on me. I think Growing Power has started experimenting with keeping them going in a heated greenhouse through winter but I haven't heard the results.

If you are feeding rabbit manure to your worm bins, then feeding your worms to the aquaponics system, you are running the risk of introducing e. coli and salmonella into your system. I would recommend that worms and BSF being fed to fish should be coming from a bin that has not gotten fresh warm blooded manure for at least 4 months or an alternative might be to purge the worms by putting them in a clean moist bed of cornmeal for a period of time before feeding them to the fish.

I'm not fecophobic but I eat lots of raw food out of my aquaponic system and I therefore prefer not to be sprinkling my aquaponic water with fresh manure since that would be a bit like sprinkling my salad with fresh manure.

Properly composted manure is a different story but that takes time.

BSFL's digestive tract destroys pathogens, they also purge their systems when they self harvest. IF one wanted a way to quickly cycle waste, BSFL would likely be the safest way. I'd did put the IF in capitals for a reason though. I do believe that hot composting is safer. Unfortunately, there is no easy to incorporate hot composting in Aquaponics without some soil farming too.

Why do you say BSFL are not complete for fish feed?

What are they missing?

I have read the papers from U of Ga. And NCSU. they both talk about BSFL at 30% mixes but don't address why. The Georgia paper says that it "isn't necessary" because the catfish didn't grow any faster. Now that I think of it, the NCSU paper may just reference the UofGa. research.

So, my question is, do the BSFL lack nutrients or is it other reasons?

The only food in an aquaculture or closed loop system that provides 'most' nutrient is specially formulated aquaculture feed. It is made for optimum fish health and growth.

Things like BSFL, worms, plants, bugs etc etc usually only contain a bit of protein or alike. Things like this a really only a food addition if you want maximum fish and plant growth.

There have been other studies that have shown that a diet consisting solely of BSFL is actually harmful because the fat content is too high. It kills their liver, or something to that effect. In nature fish eat a variety of foods. It may well include BSFL, but it also includes worms, plants, insects in non larval form, and algae. I fully plan on implementing BSFL soon, but I am still going to feed an aquaculture feed too. I would lo like to incorporate morenga, but again as a supplement. And even then only if I have excess, as I hardly get any now...

Yep it isn't necessarily that the larva are missing something important but more about what they do have isn't a balanced diet for fish. As Ronmaggi says, too much fat (same goes for worms) Now I know of people who have gone to the trouble of trying to render out the excess fat from worms so they could use worm meal in a feed for the fish but most people are not wanting to go to that kind of extra trouble when growing their own fish feeds.

There are very few animals out there that get buy eating only one single thing as their complete diet. Can you imagine what would happen if a person only ate shrimp all their life?

You are what you eat TC

Well the cook's home so I just had a good breakfast. When he is off on the road, I guess I'm mostly frozen and canned.