For aquaculture, rather than growing just any type of algae, you’ll need to consider the types of algae to culture and you’ll need to produce a quality product. Random types of algae may not feature the optimum nutritional profile for the fish, mollusks or crustaceans you’d like to grow. You’ll need to choose algae that provides good nutrition so that you can produce high quality aquaculture products. In fact, for optimum health, as much care is needed in algae production as is needed in fish husbandry or crustacean production.
This means you’ll need to keep bacteria levels as low as you can in algae problems so that you don’t risk contaminating fish or causing infections. You’ll also need to consider the growth rate of different kinds of algae so that you can choose one that not only gives you the needed nutrition, but that also produces enough food quickly enough to feed growing fish or voracious eaters like tilapia. If you choose to grow the algae in the same ponds as the fish, you’ll need to ensure that the fish can’t eat the algae faster than it can grow—and that growth rate needs to scale up with fish needs as the fish grow. All in all, it can be a challenge to manage this kind of feeding system, but the savings on commercially prepared foods make it worthwhile.
