Story in: October-2024

Story: Why is floating fish feed necessary?

Why is floating fish feed necessary?

Hungry fish roam the different layers of the water body for food. In fish farming, a pond or enclosed water body is used. Where there is no natural food. Again, the amount of fish is more. In that case, both sinking and floating foods are applied in the cultivation pond. However, floating foods have certain characteristics that differ from sinking foods. For example, since the digestive system of fish is small and the digestive process is of short duration, light food is more suitable for fish.

Around 2001, the first floating feed started its journey in Bangladesh. Almost every feedmill company today manufactures or is considering manufacturing floating feed in addition to sinking feed. Many have proper experience in making floating feeds. Again, not being able to select the machine properly, the experience of many people is not correct. That is why new entrepreneurs must gain proper experience before producing a floating feed.

There are two types of fish feed. The first is pelleted feed and the second is extruded feed, which is better known as floating feed in our country. Extruded feed can be floating, sinking, or slow sinking. So the extruder can be not only for floating feed but also for slow-sinking feed. A little review can see why the concept of floating feed was created by nature in the past, different species of fish move at different levels of water. Generally, fish need food at the level of the water they roam. Previously, natural food was sufficient for the reproduction and growth of fish. But at present, due to the high concentration of fish in the farming pond, the food necessary for the reproduction and growth of the fish has to be supplied mainly from outside. Hungry fish roam the different levels of the pond for food. In that case, only sinking and floating food can be applied in the cultivation pond. However, floating food has some features that are different from sinking food, such as fish's digestive system is small and the digestion process is short-lived, so light food is more suitable for fish. Light food helps the fish gain weight through a faster digestion process. The development of extruded feed technology started from this idea.

Generally, the amount of starch in sinking feed is 10% while in extruded feed it is at least 20% which is relatively helpful. As for shrimp feed, floating feed is not for shrimp, because they move at the lowest level of water. Shrimp food should always be drowned. In our country shrimp feed is made from a pellet machine. Not many people know that shrimp dip can also be made from an extruder. If the shrimp sinking food is made from the extruder, due to the high starch content and long time in the water, the shrimp can fully consume the food, on the other hand, the food quality and food conversion rate increase very quickly. Needless to say, shrimp feed made from extruder is expensive compared to normal feed. Analyzing the income and expenses, it will be seen that the use of extruded feed is profitable for the farmers. The special difference between pelleted and extruded feed is that pelleted feed is not stable in water, so there is more waste of feed, on the other hand, there is no waste because extruded feed is more stable in water.

The practice of floating fish feed in Bangladesh has come a long way in the last few years. Along with the demand for traditional sinking feed, the demand for floating feed is constantly increasing. In 2006, Mega Feed started marketing floating feed on a larger scale. In 2007 Affil Feed Ltd started their floating feed mill plant. AK Aftab, Paragana, ACI-Godrej, National, Index, Narish, SMS, Biswas Group, Quality, Fresh, Krishibid Group set up floating feed mill plants. Today almost every feed mill company manufactures floating feed along with sinking feed.-Editor

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