Choosing the right feed for your fish: Floating vs sinking feed

Floating feed is produced using a special process called extrusion. Extrusion involves mixing and cooking feed ingredients under high temperature, pressure, and steam. This process creates air bubbles inside the pellets, causing them to float on water.

Floating feed offers several important benefits:

• Better observation of feeding behaviour
  Because the feed floats on the water surface, farmers can easily see how fish are feeding.
• Control of feeding levels
  This observation makes it possible to adjust feeding rates according to the appetite of the fish, limiting over- or underfeeding.
• Optimised growth
  Monitoring feeding behaviour makes it easier to push feeding for optimal growth.
• Reduced feed waste
  Uneaten feed increases production costs and pollutes the water. Floating feed allows better control over feed waste, improving efficiency.
• Improved digestibility
  Extrusion’s “cooking effect” improves the digestibility of plant-based ingredients, making nutrients more available to fish.

In some markets, sinking feed is also available. Sinking feed is usually produced with equipment similar to poultry feed processing.

Advantages:

• Requires less advanced equipment and energy, making it cheaper per kilogram.

Limitations:

• Feed sinks below the water surface, making it harder to observe feeding behaviour.
• Difficult to determine the correct feeding rate, limiting growth potential.
• More feed waste is likely, which can lead to higher total feed costs.
• Feed waste can pollute water, causing algae blooms or low oxygen levels.
• Plant-based ingredients are less digestible due to lower cooking temperatures.

To get the best results from floating feed, follow these feeding tips:

1. Observe feeding speed
   Pellets should be consumed within seconds after hitting the water, or at most within a few minutes.
2. Avoid overfeeding
   Remove any uneaten feed after a few minutes to prevent nutrient loss and pollution.
3. Adjust feeding rates
   Feed based on fish appetite and behaviour to ensure each fish gets enough feed without creating waste.

Floating feed offers several advantages: easier monitoring of feeding behaviour, better control of feeding rates, improved growth, reduced feed waste, and better water quality. To maximise the benefits of floating feed, adjust feeding rates to the behaviour of your fish, ensuring every fish gets a full stomach while minimising feed waste.