PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTE OF QUALITY FISH FEEDS

By

Chigbogu, Nnachetam Reginald

A significant difference between feeding fish and land animals is that once fish have been fed in excess, the left over cannot be retrieved from the pond water, unless when  fed with extruded or floating pellets.

Even though in the case of land animals, excess feed can be retrieved because they are fed in containers; but even land animals encounter problems when too many fines are in their feed.

Too much fines in fish feed would make the fish unable to eat all the feeds and obtain the required nutrients needed for growth, as the feeds would dissolve and disintegrate before being consumed.

Consequently, this would result in greater risk of poor water quality and and poor growth performance.

Factually, the higher the feed quality used, the less feed wastage and the easier the pond water quality management. As it is proven that beter water quality, the greater the ponds carrying capacity and the faster the growth performance of the fish.

Therefore, below are some physical attributes of a good and quality foreign and local feeds.

1. Feed ingredients used should be finely ground: The pellets would have uniform color and morsels of maize/corn or any other ingredient should not be distinguishable.

2.No fines or dust in the feed: Much fine/dust on the feed would eventually be  wasted in form of powder floating on the water surface. Though, Tilapia spp may eventually consume this powder but bigger catfish would not.

3. Firmness of pellets: The pellets should be firm with a water stability of at least 20 - 30/40 minutes. The pellet’s water stability is the time taken for the pellet to fall apart in water. Gelatinized edible starch or any good feed binder added during mixing of the ingredients helps to bind the pellets together.

4. Uniformity and correctness of feed size: The feeds should be molded to a uniform size and of correct size of the fish stage/size of which the feeds are being produced for. This is done adequately so the fish can swallow the pellets. A size of about one-quarter (¼) the diameter of the fish mouth is advised.

5. Feed palatability: The feed should be formulated to be palatable to the fish with a good smell, feel and taste (fishlike smell). This is strongly advised as fish would always vomit or  only slowly consume feed that is not palatable to them.

Contact Nnachet Farms for your training sessions in animal feed production (fish, snail, poultry feed production) or for practical handbooks on:

  • Fish farming
  • Snail farming and
  • Feed production


Contact: +2348127703618/nnachetfarms@gmail.com

Nnachet Farms: Creation of Food and Employments for Ourselves and Others

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