Aquaculture feeds include natural, garbage fish, artificial, live organisms, and supplementary feeds. Each has advantages and disadvantages, and some require customization for specific species. Medicated feeds are also available to combat diseases and stressors.
There are several different types of aquaculture feeds, including natural and artificial feeds. Natural foods fall into one of three categories: natural animals and plants, garbage fish, and living organisms. Aquaculture farmers create natural food for animals and plants with the fish, as opposed to garbage fish, which are not live foods. Live food organisms are specialized foods usually fed to very small fish or aquatic products in their larval stages. Some special foods have additives, such as vitamins, drugs, or vaccines.
Natural animals or fish and plants have various advantages and disadvantages. These foods are often cheaper than some of the other options. The fish or other seafood is free to feed whenever they are hungry since the natural products co-inhabit the aqua-farm produce. The aquaculture farmer has less control over these aquaculture feeds and may not meet all the nutritional requirements of the aquaculture crop.
Rough or garbage fish feeds, which are non-commercial fish, are more expensive than natural aquaculture feeds. An aquatic farmer needs to factor in the cost of keeping waste fish refrigerated or frozen. Some fish or seafood will not accept artificial feed, and therefore some aquaculturers rely on litter. The downside to using garbage fish is that these fish take time to fatten up the fish. A longer period between hatching and harvest means a smaller profit.
Manufacturers offer artificial feeds for aquaculture in floating or sinking pellets, crumbs and flakes, as well as wet and paste forms. Typically, artificial foods contain a high percentage of fish meal. Artificial foods increase growth relatively quickly. A major disadvantage is that the aquaculture farmer must customize it for the food crop, using species, age and other factors as guidelines. Some fish or seafood may not eat artificial food.
Live living organisms differ from natural aquaculture food because they are microorganisms such as microalgae, microscopic animals called rotifers and others. This type of food is beneficial for newborn fish and larval stages of some species. Depending on the species, living food organisms can be aquatic plants or animals. There are many disadvantages to using live food organisms. Usually, a person needs special skills and knowledge to raise bodies, and the process takes a very long time, which increases salary expenses.
Supplementary feeds for aquaculture are cheaper and more plentiful than many feeds. They are not suitable to be the only food source, but they complement the normal food. Usually these foods contain only grains, such as soy, wheat and rice. The downside of having the extra cost of a supplemental feed is offset by the increased growth the feed produces.
Aquaculture farmers provide medicated feeds to their fish crops to combat many diseases and other stressors that attack the health of their crops. Fish and other aquaculture crops are susceptible to stress due to overpopulation, poor nutrition and other problems. Poor water quality such as low oxygen and high ammonia or nitrites can affect crop health. Manufacturers formulate some medicated aquaculture feeds to combat these problems. They design medicated feeds specifically for each species, and aquatic farmers need to be aware of this when purchasing this type of feed.
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