Feed for Fish in Aquaculture
It is essential to provide a balance nutrition feed for fish in Aquaculture to keep them healthy. It is also said that the healthy feed we provide the fish the healthier it is for human consumption.
Due to the advancement of Aquaculture, aqua farmers are able to get a variety of fish feed with proper nutritional benefits the fish require. Feed quantity and the type of feed also vary from species to species.
Types of fish species commonly cultured in Aquaculture:
Catla
Sheelavathi / Rohu / Ragandi
Roopchand
Pangasius
Tilapila
Types of Fish Feed: We have 2 major types of fish feed
1) Floating fish feed: Floating fish feed is comparatively expensive, this fish feed is said to be floating on water and the fish need to come up to the surface to eat the feed, so that the aqua farmers can also check with the growth rate of the fish daily and monitor. We can also adjust the time to float by adjusting the puffing level
2) Sinking fish feed: This feed is low in cost and economical for all farmers to purchase. It stays in the water for about a hour and later it settles down at the bottom of the water.
However there is no nutritional difference between both the feeds.
Things to consider while purchasing fish feed:
Feed Ingredients (Phospotidylcholine, Phosphotidylinositol, Coenzymes)
Water stability
Nutrients
Manufacturers
Preventive from diseases
Improves Survival of Larvae and juveniles growth.
Price
Easily digested
Major Manufacturers of fish feed:
ABIS
Godrej Agrovet fish feed
Kingmei feeds
Protocol ltd
CP Aquaculture Pvt. Ltd
Things to Consider while Feeding:
Feed the required amount of food, do not over feed or under feed the fish
Make sure that the food is spread to all areas in the pond
Water with poor quality reduces the growth of the fish and quantity of feed required by the fish
FCR= Total amount of food given in kilograms / Total amount of food produced in kilograms
Sources of fish feed:
Fish feed is produced from 2 major sources one is produced from the fishery wastes and the other one is herring fish which is harvested only for the fish feed
Quantity of Feed:
1) Feed should be supplied 2 times a day and ideal time is 10 AM and 4 PM, and same time should be followed every day so that fish will get used to it, which will result in same sizes, healthy fishes
2) The response of the fish for the feed should be considered
3) The total number of fish in the pond and species of the fish should be considered
4) Feed sizes range from 0.5 to 28.0 mm
Storage:
Fish feed must not be stored for so long and can be purchased frequently if possible or once a month.
Approx market price and Available quantities:
Foating fish feed: 35 kgs bag price is 1969
Sinking fish feed: 50 kg bag price is 2156
Disadvantages of Artificial feed:
Need to be preserved in the refrigerators, failing to do some may leads to contamination
Expensive to purchase
Excess feeding may lead to water pollution
With the growing demand for aquaculture the prices of fish feed is also growing up from the past few years. But we have abundant supply of high quality nutritional feed to sustainable Aquaculture.
Source: Aquadeals