Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Its always possible to do anything Sleepe, however i think bottom of the food chain is very, very hard to keep stable.

plenty of people do brine shrimp, as far as ive seen by people doing them, they are not easy.
I have a feeling even smaller thing (if you want to get a sustainable harvest) are even more difficult.
it is easy to grow zooplankton i find, it comes from nowhere when there are no predators, but start scooping it out and your number drop very quickly and take ages to rise again.

personally i find buckets with leaves in the bottom for mosquito breeding, pest snails and duckweed are the easiest and most reliable source of food at home, beyond wormfarms and mealworm farms, which i have always been too lazy to do. I have never done BSFL, perhaps that is also a good option.

Sorry Yav i was talking about commercial production of fish food eg if the extra component was only a percentage needed for good nutrition and say we were talking about brine shrimp up north or central WA has huge areas of non usable land and I would imagine brine shrimp breed by the ton in certain areas.

EDIT

Whoops I just looked that up evidently we are into it.

ahh commercial production, i try avoid that sort of stuff and discussion, sounds like work.

I was too bust playing tennis and partying when I was young to worry about a lot.

As I got older, had kids, and settled down, that's when you start taking a harder look around at what we're doing to God's greatest creation. The worst part for me is, I believe we have the technology to fix pretty much all our issues, but won't set the dollar aside long enough to do that.

Some things simply cost a little more, but like buying a quality plant, the dividends are there.

Just hope we as a species figure it out before it's too late.

technology as much as i love it will not save anything and will only be our undoing.

^busy playing tennis

Coach - google "Verlasso salmon". They're growing salmon, using a modified yeast that produces the necessary omega oils. So it's not GMO, it's GMM. It's the same technology they use to make insulin.

Will do Cotton...thanks.

You might be making a joke by saying GMM as in Genetically Modified Mushroom but the humour didn't get over my pedantry wall

Mushrooms are organisms and Yeasts do not produce the fruiting bodies we call Mushrooms.

Does anyone have any negative studies involving the verlasso salmon? This sounds exactly like what I was hoping they could come up with. A safer way to produce food, with better results. I read 3-4 articles, but nothing I could find had any negatives that were presented.

Chris, if you investigate algae production you will see that there are also many strains of algae that are high in essential fatty acids especially Omega 3's. You can purchase these strains and grow them. If you know how to put these into pellets with the rest of the requirements for a good fish food you could probably make your own.

Martin.

It is so not that simple.

The CSIRO has spent millions and years trying to do this and they have recently cracked it for prawn foods. They are now continuing their efforts for fish foods.

I had a chat with a guy from Ridleys the other day and he said the size of their fish department is huge and riddled with Phds and Masters and many senior people with masses of technical experience. Compared to his side of the business (which was chickens) the technical expertise they retain is massive.

But it should be that simple stu, i mean in theory.

if you are growing a species of fish that never leaves its freshwater lake/ river home and only eats bugs and algae and the occasional other fish which never leaves its lake / river home, then land based bugs (with some dragonfly larvae, etc if you can get it) and algae should be enough as that is what they would get in the wild.

they wouldnt get the things in fish feed (mashed up sea fish) or sea based algaes with high levels of omega3, etc.

Yeah I apologise if I made it sound like you knock together some fish food in your kitchen and Bob's your uncle. I do know that there is a lot more to it than that but I believe it is possible and I also think it is algae that will be the big breakthrough as they are so versatile and can be grown in factory like conditions if required.

I think a large part of algae research is currently aimed at producing alternative fuels but at some point the spotlight, I hope, will move onto aquaculture and that could create some major changes. At the same time I think it would be quite possible for smaller players to make a breakthrough or develop a usable fish food and then the world would be your oyster.

Having a truckload of masters degrees (a.k.a. big and ponderous) sometimes is no match for a small team trying every possibility under the sun until they find the answer.

Martin.

Can't be just omega 3; quick Google gives me flaxseed as the highest content of omega 3 (ALA) and a little further says omega 3 DLA can be synthesized from ALA.