For a food production system creating both vegetable and animal proteins at once, try combining an algaculture setup with an aquaculture business. Growing feed for the fish or crustaceans on-site greatly reduces shipping costs and can make it far more profitable to grow specialty or slow-growing species. With no constant costs for commercial feed, algae-supported aquaculture systems are efficient and can weather market changes. However, there are a few tricks to producing feed that has a high enough quality for feeding fish.
Feeding Fish, Prawns, and More
Algae is an ideal food for the fry and fingerlings of all species and the maturing adults of herbivorous fish. It also works well as a primary food source for many omnivorous fish due to the high protein value. In addition to fish, you can also use it to feed prawns, shrimp, mollusks, and other filter-feeders that can’t be fed with a commercial food. If there’s no other producers of a specific fish or crustacean in your area, using an algae-based system could allow you to break into a new market.
Producing a High Quality Food Source
Any algae you grow in a pond isn’t necessarily a good food source for sensitive fish. For best results, quality algae must be cultured with as much care as the fish themselves. Growing high-quality algae as a fish food supply means:
- Keeping bacteria levels as low as possible so there’s no infection problems or contamination issues with the fish
- Choosing an algae capable of growing quickly enough to supply the appetites of voracious fish species like tilapia
- Maintaining a rapid pace of growth if the algae is grown in the ponds where the fish live so that they can’t consume it faster than it reproduces
- Continuing the same levels of growth even as feeding increases.
It’s true that managing algae production adds a lot to the workload of your aquaculture manager. However, the savings offered by producing in-house feed may offset the cost of hiring someone just to manage the algae ponds alone.
Feeding Brine Shrimp
It’s also possible to create a longer feeding chain and increase feed value even more by adding another level of production. Instead of feeding the algae directly to the fish, consider using it to feed brine shrimp instead. These brine shrimp lay eggs you can dehydrate and store out of water until they’re needed for a new food source. Hatching live brine shrimp as feed provides a higher protein content than algae alone and allows you to feed carnivorous fish that can’t live on algae. If you’re planning to produce fish food as a product, brine shrimp offer a much higher return than algae alone.
Increasing Fish and Mollusk Characteristics
Feeding certain types of algae to fish and mollusks can also increase their desirable characteristics. For example, red algae varieties are often fed to salmon in farming operations to increase the pink coloration of their meat. Other algae additives are fed to increase the nutritional value of the finished fish or mollusk. Regardless of the reason, feeding algae to your fish can go far beyond just supplying them with a steady source of low-cost protein.
Ready to dive into the world of algaculture? There’s still a lot of discoveries to make in this field and there’s plenty of opportunity for growth in most algae product markets. Contact us at BTL Liners for flexible, durable pond liners; fabricated to your project specifications. We have a vast product line to meet your specific needs, with liners you can rely on for decades.
