Dr. V.P.

Saini
Dean
College of Fisheries Kishanganj
Supplementary Fish Feed? • Fish needs some extra feed
along with available
natural feeds in water for
their regular growth.
• This extra feed which are
provided to fish is called
supplementary feed of fish.
The ingredients of supplementary
feed for fish are below.
•Rice bran
•Refined pulse and wheat roughage
•Mustard or sesame cake
•Fish-meal (fish powder)
•Blood and innards of bird or animal
•Green leaves of various vegetables
•Minerals and vitamins
•Kitchen leftovers, etc.
 Fish feeds widely used in Asia include
traditional vegetarian feed and trash fish. In
Common Fish Feeds
recent years pellet feed is also becoming
popular.

– Vegetarian feed- Wheat bran, rice bran,

weed, soy dregs, flour and peanut cakes are
suitable for freshwater fish and especially for
carps.

– Trash fish-Trash fish are suitable for marine

fish and also for freshwater carnivorous
fishes.
Cont.......
• Pellet feed- There are dry and moist pellets.

–Dry Pellet: More popular and the major

ingredients are fishmeal ， fish oil,
vitamins and binder. They are
extruded.
– Moist pellet: Is made up of fishmeal，
trash fish, vitamins and binder. The
pellets are extruded by a pellet
machine. Pellet feed is suitable for both
freshwater and marine species.
How to Choose Feed?
With so many varieties of fish feed, how
can fish farmers choose one that suits
the cultured fish best?
One simple way is to compare the
nutritional requirement of the species,
availability, price, storage method,
hygiene and environmental impacts of
different feeds and see which one suits
the needs of your fish farm best.
 • For good aquaculture, the knowledge of
feeding rate is vitally important.
• Feed:-High input cost 50-60 %
Feeding Rate

Wastage of Feed
Water Pollution

optimum
Above

level
Optimum level
of Feed
Optimu
m level
Below

Loss of Production
 Calculation for Optimum Level
• The quantity of feed to be given to a pond or
cage each day should normally be based on a
percentage of the biomass present.
• Thus, if a pond contains 10 000 fish weighing
10 g on average and the recommended
feeding rate is stated to be 3% per day, the
amount of feed to be given daily is:

(10000×10×3)/100=3000g per day

 Fish Feeding Method
• The most effective method of feeding with respect to
location, time of day and frequency varies from species
to species.
• Its cost effectiveness depends also on other factors
such as the availability of feeding Labour or automatic
feeders, size of pond or tank, cost of Labour, and the
personal preference of the farm manager, based on
observations and results. Though the methods of
feeding fish keep changing, the basic methods of
feeding fish are as below:
– Hand Feeding
– Feed Tray
– Demand Feeder
Hand Feeding
Feeding is done by hand
for approximately 20
minutes.
In this method the feed
can be distributed equally
and even the person can
check if the fish is getting
overfed.
As it involves manpower,
cost of Labour will
increase.
 Feed Tray
• This method is very cheap and at the same time
very simple to use.
• Feed tray is a ration which is placed on a fine-
meshed net.
• This net is situated below the surface of the water.
• In this feeding method, the feed would be
distributed in a limited way.
 Demand Feeder
• This is a mechanism of releasing feed that too
on demand by fish.
• This is a cost-effective method.
• But the feeder to fish ratio has to be
maintained to make sure that the fish are not
overfed.
 Automatic Feed Blower
• In this method of feeding
the feed is broadcasted by
feed blower which is an
electrically powered one.
• One feed blower is
sufficient to feed 5000
fishes.
• This is a high cost
machinery which does not
take the appetite of fish in
mind.
Whatever feed you choose, take note of the following

• Do not feed too quickly or too much.

This wastes money and pollutes fish
farms.
• Observe how fish respond to feeding and
portion the feed appropriately.
• Low consumption may be a sign of
disease or deteriorating water quality.
• It is best to give frequent feeds in small
quantities.
Cont....

• If using dry pellet feed, consider having an

automatic feeding machine installed to save
manpower.
• Record the daily feed amount to detect any drop
in consumption. It also helps the calculation of
feeding cost and FCR.
• Keeping farm management record helps fish
farmers to control cost and select the right feed
and management approach. It helps to detect
potential disease outbreaks at an early stage.