Vannamei Shrimp Feeding Schedule Management in Biofloc System
Vannamei shrimp feeding schedule management in the Biofloc System plays a vital role. Vannamei shrimp farming is a short-duration culture as the animals became marketable size within 90 days of culture. This is a highly profitable business due to high demand in domestic as well as international markets and the same way it carries lots of challenges. The culture is simple but not easy.
Whether it’s traditional shrimp farming or Biofloc shrimp farming, the major challenge is to maintain the required water parameters though out the entire culture period. The shrimp feed is one of the key influential factors to the imbalance the water parameters of the shrimp pond. The shrimp feed contains high protein which helps to promote the growth of the animals and the wastage of the shrimp feed in water pollutes the water and the consequence of which animals die.
High protein feed when it remains in the water for a long period of time, slowly it starts decomposing resulting in highly toxic gas formation in the culture water, known as Ammonia. Ammonia is highly dangerous to animals, it can kill all the animals just in a few hours if it’s not get neutralized.
So in shrimp farming, it’s very essential to follow proper Vannamei Shrimp Feeding Schedule Management to avoid feed wastage. There are no certain guidelines for shrimp feeding schedules that can help to stop excess feed wastage.
When you buy shrimp feed from the market, the standard feeding guidelines can be found in the shrimp feed packet. Different shrimp companies have different feeding guidelines but these are the generic ones, which cannot be followed exactly by whatever they have mentioned otherwise you will end up with a big problem.
The guidelines that are mentioned in the shrimp feed packet is only meant for traditional shrimp farming but not for Biofloc Shrimp Farming. Because in traditional shrimp farming the wastage of feed is more that’s the reason the FCR (Feed Conversion Ratio) is high i.e. 1.5 to 2. This means on average 1.5kg to 2kg of shrimp feed is needed to grow 1 kg of shrimp.
But in Biofloc Shrimp Farming, the FCR is very low i.e. under 1, which means only 1kg of shrimp feed is needed to grow 1kg of shrimp. Because in the Biofloc System shrimp feeds never get wasted but rather reutilized in a different form, which we called as FLOC.
So if you follow the instructions which are mentioned in the feeding packet in Biofloc System, the feed wastage will be very high and it will be very difficult to manage water parameters.
So in Biofloc System, Vannamei shrimp feeding schedule management is completely different than traditional shrimp farming. In shrimp farming, one must master feeding management to get good results as it’s the key influential factor that has the potential to disturb culture water parameters.
In shrimp farming, the feed demand and supply are calculated based on the shrimp check trays. Shrimp check trays are the best way to monitor and manage the feeding schedule. Let’s say if you are doing shrimp farming in a 1-acre pond, then you should have at least 2 numbers of shrimp check trays to understand the feed demand and supply.
Normally we add 4-5% of the given feed into the check tray and observe it for 1-2 hours to find out the demand for the feed and accordingly we either increase or decrease the amount of feed. So check trays are the best way to manage feeding in shrimp farming.
Vannamei Shrimp Feeding Schedule in Biofloc System
Based on my experience doing shrimp farming in Biofloc System for more than 4 years, I have come up with this Vannamei Feeding Chart for Biofloc System that may help you. I have prepared it for 100,000 shrimps and starting from day one to day 100 how much you need to feed them.
Again this data is also not fixed, you may alter it based on the shrimp check tray management. All the information is written on the above shrimp feeding chart table in very simple and easy way so that anyone can understand it.
- Stocking Density: Number of shrimp PL’s stocked
- Number of Days: Every 10 days you need to change the feeding pattern
- Feed Number:: Shrimp feed has a number, accordingly, you need to feed them
- Body Weight in Grams: Need to check the current shrimp body weight
- Percentage of Feed: Based on their current body weight, calculate the total biomass
- Per Day Feed in KG:: Per day how much feed is supplied in Kilograms
- Total Feed: Total feed consumed every 10 days
Conclusion
It takes some time to understand the Vannamei Shrimp Feeding Schedule and its management in Biofloc System. High protein shrimp feed may hamper the shrimp culture water if its not managed well. The recommendations that are given in the shrimp feed packet are only meant for the traditional shrimp farmers as the feed waste is more but not for the Biofloc Shrimp Farming. So never follow the company-recommended shrimp feed guidelines. I have created the above shrimp feeding chart based on my shrimp farming experience in Biofloc System. Follow this guideline and make the changes based on check tray data.
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