Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

i think this is going to be another one of those "lets be scientific about it", when science doesnt even know how the food chain works well enough to go playing with it, much like GMO.

if you are making your own feed, who needs science? common sense is all that is needed, what sort of stuff do they eat in the wild? try to replicate that as best you can.
science does the same thing but tries to break it down further without really even understanding the basics fully, talking of omega3, etc without knowing exactly why its there, what it does and doesnt do, how it is produced in nature and which species actually need it and which dont, etc, etc.

Once I get my second system up and running if you can make a value competitive food (not just cost competitive) I'll run a trial between your food and Skrettings or Ridleys.

lol commercial setting, i said if you are making your own food, will you be making your own?

Also, dont take what i said as "commercial feed makers dont know what they are doing".

Well if you make it it will be your own



Nope, no way.

If you look on the UN Food and Agriculture site you get some interesting information on fish feed:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x5738e/x5738e0g.htm

It gives you an idea of what it takes to produce fish feed. There are also a lot of algae resources on the net.

I understand that flaxseed is high in omega 3s but how easy is it to grow instead of algae? I kinda agree with Yavi, especially if you are making fish feed for yourself - try to replicate what they eat in the wild. I think algae can be a great base and then adding in other components to get to a good end-product. On the home front I would think that would be earthworms, BSF and maybe fly maggots. I saw a good segment on that recently which I think Bodgy or someone on his thread posted.

Martin.

Dead easy. Especially compared to algae which is not. Easy that is.


I put making your own fish food in the same box as the unnecessary addition of RAS components to an AP system. Yes you can do it, yes you will have achieved something but seriously why bother?

If its to be more "sustainable" then make sure you can actually demonstrate that. Otherwise you are doing it to appear sustainable and conscientious where as you are quite possible increasing your environmental impact rather than decreasing it. Then you have to factor in animal welfare issues like feeding your fish too much fat because you have overdosed them on soldier fly larvae.

More power to you if you can do it and do it well but its not an easy project. Approach with open eyes about how difficult it is.

I don't know why you would overdose them on BSF larvae - the point is to create a balanced diet. If you're overdosing them on BSF larvae then it's not very balanced is it?

I hear you about how hard it can be but I think under certain circumstances it might be worthwhile especially if someone wants to take up a challenge like that.

Martin.

if ones "home made fish food" soley consists of stringy algae, worms from your worm farm and perhaps guts from harvested fish, then i can see this free food being worth while vs. pay $80-$100 per 20kg of bought food. I would also say in a case such as that, there would be no need to prove sustainablity.

However i do see your point that if you want to do it properly, it will not be so easy to perfect.

Well that depends.

Whats the embodied energy of the materials you have used?
To grow the algae?
To process the "food"?
How much electricity have you used to grow the algae?
What is the cost in terms of reduced growth, increased waste load, digestion inefficiency, adverse health consequences for the fish, etc.?
There is so much to consider and how would you even go about measuring a bunch of these factors? You would need a serious lab.

This issue is one that is common to many supposedly "environmental" and "sustainable" ideas where they claim to be better but actually have no basis for that claim other than being more "natural".

Thought we were talking about 'commercial feed' Marty.
How hard is flax to grow; been around for centuries.

Re algae, Google Geraldton and brine shrimp. Company that has got into bed with the Fisheries Dept, I think producing beta carotene from algae, has found a very profitable sideline in breeding brine shrimp (normally a pest ).
ATM there is a lot of waste in fish food production, ie. the bits you don't want to eat (Kiwi's excepted), so it is economically viable.
As far as producing fish food from not wild caught fish (as a business) Stuart don't give me the *sigh* that can't think laterally, it's doable.

As far as GMO is concerned; screwing around with fungi, the easiest one to do, is all very well (apart from if it gets out of hand). Next they will be doing cereals that are resistant to certain weedkillers, and then you can only buy the seed from them, and they have no liability to any problems it causes.
Who would do that sort of thing?

@Stu: well the thing is you are correct about the fact you need to add in all those factors, however are those factors taken into account when making commercial feed? i doubt it, i doubt that the environmental effect of the paint used on the boats to stop growth is taken into account, or the petrol used to get to the fish, what about the health effects of feeding fish that would never eat sea based foods, sea based foods?

I dont think commercial feeds are as highly scutinised as you think they may be, atleast not for sustainability, only for cost and fish growth / health.

I think we are talking about 2 totally different things, i am talking of the home user, you are talking of commercial users.

Actually some products are that heavily scrutinised. There are a number of different methodologies used to asses environmental impact/footprint and in a commercial setting much of the data you need to input into the models is available although can be difficult to access.

For backyarders its just not. For a business especially one with scale energy audits are becoming a standard feature of their operations. The data generated from the audit can then be used to asses the footprint of different aspects of the operation.

Very useful when it comes to directing efforts to become more efficient/sustainable.

How many people seperate their energy usage out by appliance?


Actually we are not. Its a very common thing for small scale operations and backyard or DIY activities to be touted as "more sustainable" in many cases they are not or at best there is no evidence to say either way.

For example is your dirt veggy garden more sustainable than a standard commercial market garden? Many people would say "of course" but home gardeners on average have been shown to use MASSES more water than ordinary irrigated market gardens.

This conversation has given me a lobotomy.

Shnargle wargle flaff.

My greatest fear, Marty