Fish Feed Quality: Bane Of Fish Farming In This Present Day
It’s no longer news that fish feed quality standard has been compromised. Fish feed is no longer what it used to be as its quality has dropped drastically.
This isn’t peculiar to any particular brand but it cuts across the board right from the branded feeds down to the toll millers to known and unknown reasons.
Read also: Tips for monitoring and maintaining water quality in aquaponics
The brunt of these high prices of feeds coming with low quality is mainly born by farmers. Just a few days back, a poultry farmer was lamenting about how bad the standard has fallen from what it used to be whereby you feed a certain number of bags of layers mash and expect a certain number of crates of eggs but that isn’t so anymore.
Moving forward, if the bird has learned to fly without perching, the hunter also has to learn to shoot without missing.
Learn MoreTo achieve the best quality fish feed in this industry as things are now farmers must learn how to make their own feed.
The need for good water management cannot be over-emphasized considering that the most available ingredients used these days in fish feed production are not easily digestible.
However, farmers are advised to do frequent water changes or make use of flow-through system in a situation where such facilities and resources are available. The motive is to have more oxygen available in the water to aid proper feed digestion.
Partial water change instead of total change is also advisable during the water change. In this system, you discharge about 70-80% of water, then top up with fresh water.
The advantage that comes with this is that if the fish hasn’t fully digested the feed given the previous day, it won’t totally vomit the feed during the partial water change.
Know your pond carrying capacity and never exceed it as even previous management technique needs to be intensified considering there’s now a change in the major production index which is feed.
Multivitamins can also be mixed with the feed and air-dried (not sun-dried) for about 1hour before feeding to enable the fish access to more nutrients which will enhance growth.
Advice On Fish Feed Quality
I always tell my fish farmer that there shouldn’t be sworn allegiance to any feed company as I’ve come to understand that activities in this industry are so dynamic.
Thank God for Totmak farmers’ center which has a wide range of brands for farmers to pick from and compare results.
After you’ve carried out all best management practices, checking FCR (Feed conversion ratio) on a biweekly basis (every 2 weeks) is also a perfect way of checking feed performance. This is done through the sampling method explained below;
Feed given ÷ weight gained. Any feed that performs below expectation should be honourably dumped.
Fish on finisher diets (6mm – 9mm) should be fed once daily considering that the ingredient composition of that class of feed takes a longer time to digest.
Fish can also be fed once on the day preceding when you want to change water to allow for better digestion of feed thereby preventing feed wastage since the oxygen level in the water which is meant to aid digestion will have been depleted by then.
As much as I always want to be optimistic, I’m burdened with thoughts of ‘can it get better? For the time being, let’s continue to manage ourselves until we reach the turning point.
Producing high quality feed matters for better performance and growth of the fish. To maintain the best quality fish feed, learn how to make fish feed at home or properly research the company where you source them from.
In all, farmers need not joke with the production of quality fish feed in this business.
Read also: The benefits and uses of aquaculture feed
How To Produce Cheap And Quality Fish Feed
For us to produce the best quality fish feed anywhere, there is a need to learn how to produce or source the raw materials. Good protein-based raw materials play a vital role in the growth of the fish.
These protein-based materials include but are not limited to chicken feathers, chicken offals, and cattle blood. They are some of the protein-based raw materials that reduce the cost of production and can be sourced from slaughter where animals are been killed for meat every day.
These are quality available resources we have but many of us lack the knowledge on how to process them.
My article on how to make feed at home will serve as a guide for you to produce good quality feed for your fish with maximum results in a very short period.
You cannot fold your hands and be thinking that the big companies in the industry are working in your favour. Whether we like it or not fish feed quality standard has been compromised.
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