Which fish food is best.

[Jimmie]

When the spring comes around I intend to get some Silver Perch fingerlings.
Please give me some pointers on how they should be fed. I assume that pellets are the easy to go, but is there any other ways of feeding them?
Jim

[Starburster]

Jimmie,
I keep barramundi and we've just started supplementing their diet with live food - mealworms, earthworms, crickets etc.
Silver perch, from what I know, will pretty much eat anything including food s****s. I guess the only problem with that is feeding them too much and the food sinking and rotting on the bottom of the tank.
I find that floating feed works best for us because we can see exactly how much food the fish are eating. Although I've currently run out of floating pellets so I've been feeding them the sinking ones and they're eating well. So that's the pro of using the floating pellets... knowing exactly how much they're eating. It's also easy to retrieve any uneaten food if they stop eating.
Anyone else have any thoughts?
Brooke

[GaryD]

Hi Jimmie,

Two of the most promising alternative fish foods are duckweed and Black Soldier Fly larvae.

You'll find an article on duckweed in Practical Aquaponics #2 and you can expect an article on BSF larvae in Issue #3.

Gary

[Jonty]

Gary,
Talking about the BSF for feed, I was wondering when the next emag is about to hit. It's nearly the end of July. (Hint Murray!) Know your busy but want to know more on BSF.
Regards
Jonty

[GaryD]

Hi Jonty,



Talking about the BSF for feed, I was wondering when the next emag is about to hit.

It's Murray's fault.

Gary

[anniefish]

Hi Jonty,


It's Murray's fault.

Gary

Onyah Murray!

[Murray]

Sorry, I have a lot on at the moment, so many Kits to build for people....I will have to get onto the last few pages of the Newsletter tonight.

[anniefish]

Thanks Murray, I'm sure there is a lot more to the set up than we can imagine. We just can't wait for the next one, so please excuse us for our impatience.
Anniefish

[Jonty]

Murray,
I think you need to visit Gary's place and tear up his organisational blame chart.
Regards
Jonty

[GaryD]

Hi,

The good thing about collaborative partnerships is that you have someone to blame when the fingers start pointing.

Seriously, Murray is really busy. Hurry Murray!

Gary

[Murray]

Here is another bit of info on fish food. Silver Perch love lettuce. Last night I threw into the Silvers tank a small whole lettuce that was running to seed.
This morning see what is left.

[Murray]

A friend of mine suggested that I try Kangaroo mince as a feed for the Murray's and Sleepies.
I tried feeding some kangaroo mince yesterday evening to each of my 5 tanks of fish.
The Murray,s took no notice of it initially, but later took it
The Sleepies ignored it but later it was all gone.
The big Silvers and Jades took it immediately
The small silvers took it immediately, and as I was dropping small bits into the tank, up from the deep came another big fat Sleepie to grab a gob full. (where did he come from ?)

So, has anyone else experimented with kangaroo mince as a fish food ? It is reasonable in price, about 3.00 per kg which is less than the cost of good quality pellets.
Any advice for me please ?

[Martin A1]

Murray,
It can't be that natural that fish feed on Kangaroo's in the wild (even when oportunistic conditions prevail) but I guess if the protein make up is ok then.. I don't know? Someone mentioned Chicken mince before so why not? I know peoiple who swear by fishing for Silver Bream with cheese?

I am amazed at the way my fish devour lettuce leaves like your previous post.. this seems more natural to me.

I tried a Comfrey leaf the other day but they didn't touch it. It's easy to grow and goes really well in the compost bin to aid the decomp process. My dog also sometimes eats the Comfrey and I know that it is a good herb for bone repair/building. I really thought the fish might go for it? I must admit that I put it in at the same time as some Cos lettuce leaves.. I know what I would eat first...... Kangaroo :-)

[Murray]

I have gone off the idea I must admit. Seemed like a good idea at the time. The K meat passes through the fish leaving lots of gristle strings floating in the water. I suspect that it could be not good for them over time.
At least chicken is white meat and would be more easily digested.
I have read reports where it is claimed that Murray Cod have been observed taking duck and other small birds that get too close. I can't imagine a Murray Cod big enough to take a Kangaroo :)

[Murray]

Jonty,
I will be interested to see how the shrimp experiment goes. If they could be grown in numbers it would be great.
I periodically go down to my back dam and with the aid of a small net scoop up a hundred or so very small fish which I am told are mosquito fish.
The Murrays are merciless. The enthusiasm with which they chop through them is amazing to watch.

I feel that the Murrays would do a lot better if they could be fed on some type of live food. What do you think ?

I might get a few hundred of these little mosquito fish and drop them into a 1000 ltr tank to see if I can get them to breed. I have tried them on some crushed up pellets and the feed very well on them. So getting them to breed in numbers would be the trick.
Perhaps some of these small fish and the shrimp and perhaps some worms would be the go...

[Jonty]

Hi Murray,

Neil from Aquablue advised me that if I had a dam and had reeds in it, that 200 glass shrimp would soon multiply to thousands.

A mixture of different foods would certainly be the way to go. Just a matter of working out the best and easiest way to do it.

How the meals worms going? The murrays clean them up too.

Regards
Jonty

[Murray]

Hi Jonty,
The mealies are going great. I have been giving them some blood and bone fertaliser and they love it.
Harvesting them would be ok if only feeding a few fish in an aquarium, but to produce and harvest them in large numbers for the Murrays would be a bit difficult.
I wonder if an old squat water tank with some water lilies or similar would go to breed the glass shrimp ?
What do you feed them on ?

[Jonty]

Hi Murray,

The squat tank with water lilies, papyrus or reeds is ideal. The water needs to be nutrient rich to get the algae blooming. Just add chook pellets to get the nitrogen levels up.

The shrimps are filter feeders so as long as algae is present they should thrive okay.

Regards
Jonty

[Murray]

Jonty, Have you obtained any of those Glass Shrimp yet ? If so how is it going ?

[Jonty]

Murray,
Not yet. Waiting for mussels to become available and will order the shrimp at the same time. Neil reckons the mussels will be available at the end of this month.
Regards
Jonty

[GaryD]

Hi Jonty,

Are freshwater mussels edible?

Gary

[Jonty]

Gary,
This is what Neil posts on his website at Aquablue.
You can eat these mussels; they are traditional aboriginal tribal food but are relatively tough to eat - more like a clam, not like a salt water mussel.
PASS!
Jonty