# Trout question



## Rattery (Jun 27, 2013)

Does anyone that raise trout in an aquaponics system know if you can feed whole ground animals like domestic rabbit/rats instead of pellets? Even supplementing in some feeder insects.

I don't like the ingredients in the pellets, since they're mostly plant based, and the first ingredient always seems to be soy which is 100% guaranteed GMO.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

Well, it's a fish and in our fish feeds we just use road kill and keep it damp so the flys lay eggs on it that turn to spikes and fall into the water to feed the fish. Also,waxworn and meal worm are very easy to raise and great fish food.

Wade


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## phrogpharmer (Apr 25, 2005)

In our area the trout farmers used to buy cattle at the auction and graze them on the grass between the trout raceways. When they needed feed they would knock a cow in the head and grind it up and scatter it on the ponds and feed the fish. 
In the summer they would hang the cow heads above the ponds and the flies would lay their eggs on the heads and the maturing maggots would drop into the ponds and feed the waiting fish.
As soon as the feed mills started producing pelleted feed for the fish everybody switched to the commercial diets. Feeding ground up cattle to fish is not a pleasant job. If you are selling your fish to the public for human consumption and they find our you're feeding ground up road kill or any other dead animals to them they will probably turn away from your product.
You will have much healthier fish and a much lower feed conversion ratio if you feed a prepared diet that is formulated for your particular species.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Practically speaking, what is the fear of the gm soy? Fish eat stuff with genes all the time. People eat genes all the time with no effect.


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## Rattery (Jun 27, 2013)

The fear of GMO anything is the two year study they did on rats with Monsanto corn. I believe the company did their testing to something like 12 or 13 months. When they did the two year study tumors started appearing at 14 months. Am J going to believe this is a completely unbiased study? No, but I'll trust it more than one done by the company selling the product. 

You are what you eat, and if there's something questionable causing tumors in animals, I'm sure not gonna eat it second hand. I also don't want to feed meat eating fish plants, it's not about cost, it's healthier meat for my family


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

Just was curious, thanks for the response.


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## Ziptie (May 16, 2013)

I asked this question a few months ago about grains and trout. What I gathered was that for the trout to eat the stuff it has to float. Plus trout are carnivorous fish and needs a lot of protein. I was thinking maybe if I feed them dried ricotta cheese(I make this with milk and vinegar) that might work.

If you find out anything more please post.


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## Mallow (Aug 4, 2006)

In the late fall through spring I keep 100 Rainbow Trout inside my aquaponics setup. I feed them Purina Aquamax 500 because that is what is easily available to me. They seem to like it and convert it into fish size fairly well. I generally start pulling them out in April to them them down and by June first I kill them all off due to water temps rising to much. I plan to use solar hot water heaters to maintain catfish this summer.


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## farmerDale (Jan 8, 2011)

It may well be cheaper to build a pond, and once established, stock according to the available feed. We raise rainbows in our dugout, which is basically a 200 by 100 pond, 14 feet deep, created by roadbuilders, which we use to water our stock with.

We stock about 200 in the spring, and never feed them a thing.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I remember a program in Canada that encouraged farmers to stock their dugouts with trout. The trout feed on the huge amphipods and grew well with no extra food.


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## Pokletu (Aug 7, 2013)

How do you cycle this water into your grow beds in the winter?


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

I just watched a video from Purdue that stated they recommend pellet of 80% corn and 20% soymeal for fish food.Supposed to have all they need!

Wade


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I know that Perdue has been working on aquaculture diets for a long time but I suspect there are more ingredients than corn and soybeans. That might supply the amino acids but there's more to it than protein.

The Indiana soybean producers have funded some good research. That's forward thinking on their part.

I talked to a feed researcher and he told me something interesting. He said that in order to make a chicken diet for each phase of growth they literally break down a whole chicken during each phase of life and then digest it into it's components ie. amino acid, lipids, etc. Then they look at the market price of each component vs digestibility and combine them into a diet. That gives them the lowest cost feed per pound of chicken produced. Kind of like the old Saturday Night Live Bass-O-Matic skit.


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## Mallow (Aug 4, 2006)

Pokletu said:


> How do you cycle this water into your grow beds in the winter?


My water is spring fed and rarely goes below 50 even in winter. Just keep the pump on and moving and no freezing at below zero temps.


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

Mallow said:


> In the late fall through spring I keep 100 Rainbow Trout inside my aquaponics setup. I feed them Purina Aquamax 500 because that is what is easily available to me. They seem to like it and convert it into fish size fairly well. I generally start pulling them out in April to them them down and by June first I kill them all off due to water temps rising to much. I plan to use solar hot water heaters to maintain catfish this summer.


So if you are raising trout in the winter,is your system outdoors or indoors? If outdoors,what do you have as far as plantlife on the other side of the system? I would suppose that side is outside also,correct?I don't have access to trout but think at those temps I may be able to use crappie but i have no idea what I could use on the plant side in the winter outdoors.


Wade


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## Mallow (Aug 4, 2006)

1shotwade said:


> So if you are raising trout in the winter,is your system outdoors or indoors? If outdoors,what do you have as far as plantlife on the other side of the system? I would suppose that side is outside also,correct?I don't have access to trout but think at those temps I may be able to use crappie but i have no idea what I could use on the plant side in the winter outdoors.
> 
> 
> Wade



My system is completely outdoors. It is an old stock tank (concrete about 6' across) and 4 IBC totes for growbeds that are insulated and covered with clear plastic for winter. We generally grow lettuce most of the colder months while its covered then warmer weather crops during the summer. We are still experimenting with the correct setups for different times of the year.

-Mallow


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## 1shotwade (Jul 9, 2013)

Mallow said:


> My system is completely outdoors. It is an old stock tank (concrete about 6' across) and 4 IBC totes for growbeds that are insulated and covered with clear plastic for winter. We generally grow lettuce most of the colder months while its covered then warmer weather crops during the summer. We are still experimenting with the correct setups for different times of the year.
> 
> -Mallow


I'd be real interested in keeping updated on this. I'm wanting to start at some point this year. I think our temps. are close so maybe I can get by with some outside veggies too. 
Thanks,Wade


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