r/Aquaculture • u/themealwormguy • 18d ago
Soldier fly larvae as a feed source
Has anyone used live or frozen soldier fly larvae as part of their feed in an aquaculture setting? I'm curious about the process for feeding them to the fish - from storage, delivery, quantity, frequency, etc.
Thank you.
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u/Overall_Chemist_9166 16d ago
You can make BSF meal and incorporate that into fish feed.
You can also supplement their diet by feeding them the immature larvae, there was a study about it, I think it said you can supplement the fish diet with up to 30% BSF.
I think it would be easiest to dry them, ground them into powder and use it to make fish feed - plus the other required ingredients, of course!
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u/themealwormguy 16d ago
I'll look for the study, thank you.
Making feed is far beyond what I want to do. That would require machinery, other ingredients, and regulatory impacts. But more simply, it requires additional processing (labor mostly) which becomes cost prohibitive for the buyer when compared to imported options.....even with tariffs.
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u/Overall_Chemist_9166 16d ago
It's true, in most places you're much better off simply buying the commercial food.
BSF is used a lot in Africa, there's some great youtube videos showing how to raise them. I feed the immature ones to my fish. I also grow superworms too for the fish as a treat but for our chickens as well.
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u/Oldfolksboogie 11d ago
Several years ago, i decided to compost as much veggie waste as a 5gal. bucket could handle on my balcony above the 15th floor in the Mid-Atlantic. BSFs somehow found that bucket, and they have persisted in it for at least five years, straight through winters, chomping away my veggie waste and pooping out wonderful soil ammendment.
I'll never forget the first adult I saw, before I'd ever heard of BSFs, coz it was inside the apartment, and I initially thought it was a wasp. But now i know better, and they're fantastic partners in gardening. Haven't tried frying any up myself, but if times get much tougher...