Make homemade fish feed

Fish, just like people, need to feed every day. The setting in which your fish live is of course important, but something else that is very crucial to their survival is what food they eat. Did you know that you can cut the cost of fish feeds by making it in your kitchen?
It is fun, easy, and can help you raise healthy fish. Recently, Mukono farmers were trained in fresh water fish farming, in fish breeding in order to have healthy fish that can help them generate more income. The most exciting bit was learning how to make fish feed.
Indonesian investors from the embassy of Indonesia in Nairobi led by ambassador and permanent representative to UNEP and UN-Habitat, Soehardjono Sastromihardjo, trained farmers at Mukono Islamic Institute in Kigombya .
“We have trained them on how to make their own fish food to avoid high expenses when purchasing from shops and also to utilise their residential areas and create /put fish ponds to generate income,” Sastromihardjo said.
Sastromihardjo added that making fish food is cheap because you only need a few ingredients to achieve this. “You can use four cans of flour, three cans of fishmeal, one can of starch, five spoonfuls cooking oil or water, one vitamin packet or vegetable left over and one mineral packet or wilting vegetable leaves from the garden.”
They are easy to make, the ingredients are relatively inexpensive, and your fish will be healthier than ever.

What it takes
Ngkuk Unggul Pribadi, a trainer from Indonesia, advises that you first gather the ingredients and materials you need to make fish food. “Start with two mixing bowls, a spoon, and an empty, dry soup can. Use the soup can and spoon to measure ingredients, one large bowl to mix dry ingredients and the other bowl to mix wet ingredients,” he explains. Also prepare a mesh screen to make the feed pellets.

Dry ingredients
• Four cans flour
• Three cans fishmeal,
• One can starch,
• Five spoonfuls cooking oil or water,
• One vitamin packet or vegetable left over
• One mineral packet or wilting vegetable leaves.

Wet ingredients
1. Choose between bananas, bread fruit, cassava, or Taro as the starch. Cook it.
2. Mash enough to fill up the soup can once and put it into the wet ingredients’ bowl.
3. Fill the soup can twice with water, add to the same bowl, and mix it together with the starch.
4. You can also mash the sweet potato, add the egg yolk to the same bowl and mix it.

Pellets
• First, mix the wet and dry ingredient mixtures in a bowl. Knead it to make dough.
• Once the dough feels crumby, pour five spoonfuls of oil or on the dough and knead it to blend well.
• Tear off little pieces and roll them between your palms into small balls [about 2-3 inches].
• One by one, place the balls on a mesh screen and use your thumb to push the dough from one side of the screen through to the other.
• Then, use your hands to scrape the little pieces of dough from the screen. Or you can put sufficient dough into the mincer and start grinding, cut the strips of minced dough into the required size. These little pieces are called pellets and voila fish food!
• Optional: You can add snail meat to the feed mixture.
• Spread the pellets on a plate and put them somewhere sunny.
• After a day, they should be properly dry.
•Put them into a feed bag and keep in dry place.

feeding the fish
Now that you are though with the process, feed your fish every day and, soon your fish will grow big for you to eat. Feed the fish twice or thrice a day and your fish will grow fast.

The Method
Step 1. Measure and mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Step 2.. Then fill the soup can with fishmeal and put it in same bowl and repeat this three times.
Step 3. Add one vitamin packet and one mineral packet to the bowl as well or vegetable left over or wilting vegetable leaves.

Benefits
Ambassador and permanent representative to UNEP and UN-Habitat Soehardjono Sastromihardjo, says farmers should also get involved in making this fish food for sale to increase their incomes and also boost farming in Uganda.
Homemade fish food will cost you a fraction of the already made feed price.
Store bought fish food might have a bunch of chemicals or artificial ingredients in them which in the long run can cause sickness in your fish. Making your own fish food means that you can customise the food for specific fish. Different types of fish require slightly different vitamins, nutrients, and minerals. Thus making your own fish food is the best way to account for that. Making fish food yourself means that you know exactly what went into it.
Worms are another great additive for homemade food. They are easy to find and even easier to buy, plus they are extremely cheap. Earth worms have a ton of protein and other nutrients too.

Future
Sastromihardjo promised farmers that there is going to be a close coordination between the embassy of Indonesia and the Ugandan government to boost fish farming and also to introduce other fish spices in Uganda.
According to Dr Muhammed Bogere, director Mukono Islamic Institute in Kigombya, the Indonesian government intends to introduce a pilot project to see that the country is helped to fight poverty.
“Indonesian Government is planning on turning the school into the project headquarters where trainings will be held in order to empower the local community fight unemployment and poverty,” Bogere said.
Bogere says Indonesia is third in the world in fish breeding while America and China are the first and second respectively. And so, they are the best to train Ugandans using the easiest methods and this project will create jobs for the youths in the region because the market is already available countrywide.
Homemade foods should be fed sparingly and care should be taken to remove uneaten portions as soon as possible. ‘Real’ food breaks food breaks down quickly and can foul the environment. Fish won’t require nearly as much of it to surpass a processed food diet anyway. Depending on your current maintenance schedule, you may have to step it up.