Tilapia / Chickens - Feeding them.

[Ascholten]

Been doing chickens for ehh a few years now.
Looking into getting into the Aquaphonics grow out etc Tilapia thing here very soon. As soon as he shows up with my pond i'll be 'in there'.

Ill get to the point. Feeding the Tilapia. It appears that Chicken Crumble is about 16 percent Protein, Tilapia Crumble is about 32 percent protein.

Can you feed them chicken food, just twice as much... or feed the chickens tilapia food, just half as much (especially if they free range, that way you KNOW they are getting their minimum protein) plus whatever they find.

Is there a 'Flock Food' that takes care of both needs or do I just need to not be a cheap ass, invest in a new garbage can and keep their foods Separate?

THanks
Aaron

 

[sourland]

Don't be a 'cheap ass' Aaron.

 

[Ascholten]

Well I figure, worse case, you kill one group off, you can feed it to the other

I figured as much, but just thought id throw it out there, as am not looking forward to yet another garbage can of 'stuff' on my porch / in my shed, to trip over, yell at the rottentoo for chewing on. etc etc. ..

My original thought train was, ALL critters need vitamins, the pet foods have them, ALL critters need protein, the foods have them, so if the two were close in their needs to each other, the feed might cross over too, since it's all essentially mass produced and squirted out of an extruder anyways. If one needs 14 percent protein and the other 16 percent, they are close enough you could make it work. Not in this case though, wow these buggers need a lot of protein! But on that, if I feed the chickens fingerling tilapia as a treat they get the protein they need right? (ok OK... had to try right?? )

Aaron

 

[Hamburg]

I have thought about this to, although I haven't been able to pursue it yet. I believe the commercial feed is meant for maximum grow as in grower feed for Cornish crosses. They will just grow slower with less protien. I was also thinking two other things. Feeding the left over fish parts to the chickens, and feeding the tilapia left over eggs. They would be scrambled or hard boiled. extra protien for both. Egg mixtures are used to feed fry. Maybe we will invent perpetual feeding system.

 

[Ascholten]

so, what came first, the tilapia or the chicken? cluck cluck save a buck ! Feed them right you cheap ole f#%.....

Aaron

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I use a 30% game bird starter to supplement my flock…wonder if that would work straight for the fish and cut with 16% layer pellet for the chickens.

 

[Ascholten]

The fish it seems is about the protein mostly. The chickens, that's a bit high on protein for what they need. Maybe cut each pellet in half and that'll do the trick ! Id assume the extra vitamins and stuff that should be in it, would be beneficial for both. The 30 seems right in line with what the fish need. id have to do a bit of research but on that, at this point it almost seems like you are at the 'price driven' point now. ie ok these 3 have what they need, only this one is 7 dollars a bag more expensive.... NEXT !!

Many years ago, my aunt had a coy pond and I rigged the bug lamp to stun and drop them right into the pond, the fish loved them. I kind of did the same on my coop, Im thinking it'd work for tilapia too.

Aaron

 

[CNJ]

How is the tilapia project going? I just ordered some white nile tilapia online from a fish farm. They grow about 2lbs a year and can get 10lbs with in 5 years. However, to me 2lbs is perfect frying pan size. I also ordered 10 hybrid bass fingerlings, but only 1 survived in my koi tank. I call him shadow because I hardly see him. I know its alive because he will attack the pellets on the surface of the water when I feed him. I hope its a male, so I can use his sperm to fertilize some koi eggs. I will sort for silver looking fry if it works out.

I have a 8 feet x 8 feet x 4 feet tank with another shallow tank 8 feet x 3 feet x 12 inch on top with an 1 1/2 pvc pipe drain and a bell siphon on top of it. My filter returns water through this tank. I drilled a tiny hole on top of the bell siphon so the water constantly drains, and it sucks water from the bottom up to the drain pipe., so my duck weed don't get sucked in. I threw in some baby prawns in this tank and they are growing fast with very little chicken feed. I hope i get some female and males so I can multiply them.

White Nile tilapia is a better food fish to raise than hybrid stripe bass because it eats duck weed. Duck weed has 56% protein and grows very fast, so its good to grow in a return tank. It also helps balance the water quality.

 

[Ascholten]

It took a little side track. The main tank is still NOT up yet. Don't get me started on that .vs. the guy who is supposed to put it up and has half the parts still.

I do have a tank in the garage, a 30 gallon im raising some in, and selling the younguns off to others who HAVE their T-Tubs set up properly. I have been so busy with everything lately that I have not had time to lean on him to get this done and have relatives coming into town for a week, this Saturday, a grandmother who will be dead in a few days to deal with, and.. yah that's my life right now.

I WILL post updates once I get this running as it has a grow outbed on it too and I really want this to take off here.

Thanks for checking in though !
Aaron

 

[Iluveggers]

Ahhhh @Ascholten you are one of my favorite people on BYC, always make me laugh! It’s a good experiment, looking forward to see how it goes for you!