Organic Fish Feed?

[bruce]

Hi All,

Anyone know where to get organic fish feed? Does anyone even make it?

If pesticides are used during the growing of feed, eg. soybeans, it will accumulate in the fish we grow and eventually eat. I guess it would also circulate into the veggies grown from the fish waste. It would be nice to know the AP is clean from input to output.

If you wanted your system organic certified wouldnt you need organic feed too?

Anyone tried growing their own feed either plants or critters? I've seen the black soldier fly (BSF) growing setups the Aussies use. Do we have them here? Or something similar?

[Albert]

glenn at olomana said that no one makes certified organic fish food.  i do, however have some azolla you can use. 
it doubles every 2 days, so you have to be careful not to let it get out into the streams.

i have also heard that you can dry homebrew wort and feed that to fish.

[bruce]

thanks albert, I have a separate tub where I grow duckweed, but havent used it in place of feed. Something to try out.

If no one makes organic feed, that sounds like an opportunity for someone that knows how to grow and make it.

[Lucero808]

This is one of the reasons I wanted to grow a different type of fish other than tilapia. Giant gourami and pacu are both herbivores (although they will probably eat just about anything given the chance). So you could grow your own vegetables for feed in your AP system and put it right back into the FT. Also, pangasus catfish, jaguar cichlids, and peacock bass are all carnivorous so you could breed tilapia fry, convict cichlids, or livebearers (guppies, etc.) to feed these fish. Guppies eat algae so that could be the basis of an organic food chain.

The problem with tilapia are that they are supposed to be filter feeders in the wild that eat the freshwater equivalent of plankton. So reproducing that diet is alot harder. There are 'greenwater' systems that are basically huge ponds which are seeded with manure and allowed to culture algae and the invertebrates that the tilapia feed on. Of course sometimes these systems crash when the algae all die off. Plus I've read that tilapia in earthen ponds is what gives them that 'muddy' taste that you get in the supermarket from tilapia.

[bruce]

Thanks for the information Lucero. I wonder if the pet stores carry or can order any of those fish, like the pacu or pangasus catfish. I'll give some a call and see.

[Lucero808]

As far as Pacu and Pangasus catfish these fish get 'gianormous' like 5'+ but you could eat them before they got that big. They have incredible growth rates which is why I was really interested in them besides diet.
There are two fish that share the common name Pacu. One of them is the one that is eaten regularly in Brazil. I remember reading that the pope ate some of the ribs BBQ style while he was there. I can't remember which is which but I'll find out. I do believe pet shops carry both and they can be a bit pricy (compared to tilapia). The pangasus catfish that is eaten are two species, Basa and Trah (I think) and the Basa is supposed to be superior in taste. Petshops carry pangasus under different names and of course I can't remember what the scientific names are but I'll look it up.
In Brazil they are breeding Pacu with hormones for aquaculture and in Thailand they are also breeding pangasus for aquaculture. The few accounts I've heard of people in the US breeding Pacu (Monster Fish Keepers) involved swimming pool sized ponds so I would think getting in some fry from Brazil through a petshop would be best. The american catfish industry tried to block thailand from importing pangasus and also from calling pangasus 'catfish'. It worked for a while but now you can buy it in the stores (I think Costco). So I can't see getting fry for aquaculture without alot of permits and headaches but if the ones in the petshop are the same you could get some that way.

The one type that I'm definitely going to try is the Giant Gourami. They get monsterous too at 3' but I think I can manage that. They are also herbivorous and there is a friend of a friend who breeds them here on Oahu so breeding is possible. Of the two types the gray/blue form can be bred and the pink has not been.

[Rosemary]

I would be interested in trying out the giant gourami as well.  I have been researching Pacu and they look very interesting to me, like a good fish to raise.

[Richard C]

Hi all:

I have been told that there is no organic fish food available. I have 4 Mozambique Tilapia in an aquarium in addition to the ones in my aquaponics tank. I am trying to get them to pair up and breed. These fish love the scrap lettuce and stems from the plants grown in my AP tank. I feed them regular fish meal once a day and and the lettuce a couple of times a day.

Richard

[Olomana Gardens]

If what you feed the fish is organic, then you can have an organic fish, after one year, or breed them and their babies are organic.

Can your fish live on organic salad alone. What about balack soilder fly, worms etc?

Aloha,
Glenn
 Olomana Gardens.

[Lucero808]

If you're really looking for organic you could try switching to a herbivorous species like giant gourami, pacu, or grass carp. These species probably wouldn't pass up a meaty morsel but they are mainly herbivores. The grass carp is even supposed to be able to live on straight grass although I'm sure there's some inverts in the grass along the riverside. They do get very large but if you can find them as juveniles you could just eat them before they get too big.

You could also try carnivorous species like jaguar cichlids or peacock bass. By raising you own feeder fish (livebearers) and feeding them algae you would have a purely organic food chain.

As for organic tilapia feed you would probably have to breed inverts like scud, daphnia, shrimp, or bloodworms. Or you could try green water culture which is basically 'charging' your pond with nutrients/'organic' fertilizers and letting algae blooms happen which would allow these inverts to establish themselves naturally.

These might take some effort but if you have the resources it is possible.

[robertlk808]

Have you guys looked into the Biopod @ http://www.thebiopod.com/   You use black soldier fly larvae to get rid of food waste, when the larvae feel the need to migrate or do whatever they do they crawl up the ramp and drop down into this collection bucket.  You can freeze them and feed them to fish or chicken.

Here is a little video about the product by Murray the guy in Australia and makes the "Aquaponics made Easy" DVD.

Growing Black Soldier Fly Larvae

I think they have a youtube plugin for SMF, so you can watch the video clip without leaving the forum.

[Albert]

Glenn at Olomana had a BSF pod... i didnt know we had them here.

[robertlk808]

Albert,
Waikiki Worm has them, they aren't at the website but I was told that they will be getting them in stock.
I saw one at the store when I went to town to pick up some worms.  Cindy is still learning as well.
They also have the Worm Tea Brewers.

www.waikikiworm.com
1917 S King St
Honolulu, HI 96826-2173
(808) 945-9676

[we8er]

Getting those giant gourami sounds great to me I know the local fish shops carry them I will have to ask if they can get me a breeding set.  Any one know what the flavor on them is like?  They will eat anything Mine love the worms from my worm farm.  But they are kissing gourami and growth rate is low on them.

[Lucero808]

I hear you can eat the kissing gouramis too. Just never considered them because they're on the small side (compared to tilapia) and they have a lot of bones.