Fish shit diy??

[Wobblyeastcoaster]

So I have been trying to find a way to make fish shit on my own. All I keep getting on google is how to make fish Emulsion. My daughter got a 6 gal fish tank that has guppies and snails in it. I clean out about a gal of water out of it a week. And I should vaccum the gravel and get more goodness out of it. So I'm wondering how to make the "fish shit". I have been just putting the water in my compost teas and phing it as well.

 

[MustGro]

I'd do a search for aquaponics to get a few ideas if it were me. Nothing wrong with just using the enriched water either.

 

[Wobblyeastcoaster]

I'd do a search for aquaponics to get a few ideas if it were me. Nothing wrong with just using the enriched water either.

That's a great idea. I'm hoping to get an idea to make it concentrated

 

[Don't Bogart]

I do aquaponics so you can develop a ratio of fish to plants. If you are going to be dedicated to water changes you can over load the tank. A common ratio to a normal tank is 5 gal per fish. Your probably way over that but guppies are small. If you drop 2-3 gal per week you could probably load up about 15 fish. You'll need to get a water test kit, (strips or liquid tester), to monitor ammonia. Snails don't add much if anything at all. Though if they're pond snails,(little brown circular things), I'd get them out. They multiply like crazy and eat up the fish tank plants.
The water from the fish will give your plants something but not nearly enough as a stand alone feed for your plants.
How many plants you growing?
Here's a link for aquaponics. Just to be straight This probably nothing you would ever think of doing but there interesting to watch.
The 1st guy is a riot. Be careful, if you get the bug it can be a rabbit hole that can involve your whole family.
The 2nd is great for understanding nutes.

 

[Don't Bogart]

Here's a couple of more practical,(small) setups.

 

[Wobblyeastcoaster]

I do aquaponics so you can develop a ratio of fish to plants. If you are going to be dedicated to water changes you can over load the tank. A common ratio to a normal tank is 5 gal per fish. Your probably way over that but guppies are small. If you drop 2-3 gal per week you could probably load up about 15 fish. You'll need to get a water test kit, (strips or liquid tester), to monitor ammonia. Snails don't add much if anything at all. Though if they're pond snails,(little brown circular things), I'd get them out. They multiply like crazy and eat up the fish tank plants.
The water from the fish will give your plants something but not nearly enough as a stand alone feed for your plants.
How many plants you growing?
Here's a link for aquaponics. Just to be straight This probably nothing you would ever think of doing but there interesting to watch.
The 1st guy is a riot. Be careful, if you get the bug it can be a rabbit hole that can involve your whole family.
The 2nd is great for understanding nutes.

Thanks for the links. Going to Wat h them now. I talked to the pet store and my neighbour about size of tank to fish and ya I. Maxed out. The snails I bought don't breed I was told. Then bam I have a baby snail. I have 5 or 6 plants and use Gaia green organic nutes and it has worked well but now with the fish tank I wanted to use the water instead of it going down the drain

 

[Wobblyeastcoaster]

Here's a couple of more practical,(small) setups.

My tank is in my daughters room and the plants are down stairs so I'm just going to have to use the water and not have a huge set up. Think my wife would kill me if I did get a setup. Hahha

 

[Don't Bogart]

Got it.
Get ready for your wife to flip out when you spill water when bringing it down to the plants.
Don't say that won't happen.
Setup another tank down with your plants.
I figure if you listen to me. I can set you back about $2,000.00
I'm in it for at least 3.

 

[Wobblyeastcoaster]

Got it.
Get ready for your wife to flip out when you spill water when bringing it down to the plants.
Don't say that won't happen.
Setup another tank down with your plants.
I figure if you listen to me. I can set you back about $2,000.00
I'm in it for at least 3.

Hahaha. That will be the day I just walk out for groceries. She even said she wouldn't mind a tank down stairs so it might happen.

 

[lakesidegrower]

I think what you are wanting to make is fish hydrolysate - you can google it. It’s like fish emulsion but isn’t made by using heat which can degrade some of the benefits. The process involves starting with chopped up whole fish and something to break it down (natural enzymes from specific fruits, or an essential microorganism culture like lacto bacilli - EM-1), it ferments for several months and you end up with liquid fish with some bones left over that you can toss in your compost.
I’ll be trying to make some this summer, pumped to see if I can get it to work.

 

[Don't Bogart]

The process involves starting with chopped up whole fish and something to break it down (natural enzymes from specific fruits, or an essential microorganism culture like lacto bacilli - EM-1), it ferments for several months and you end up with liquid fish with some bones left over that you can toss in your compost.

Sounds messy, sounds smelly, sounds like your single.

 

[Don't Bogart]

The snails I bought don't breed I was told. Then bam I have a baby snail.

You don't have a baby snail. You probably have a dozen baby snails. Tribbles.

 

[lakesidegrower]

Sounds messy, sounds smelly, sounds like your single.

Haha my wife is good with fishing, but yea... a bucket of decomposing fish... it’s gonna be a tough sell. Have never made it myself, planning to try my hand at making a batch this summer, but strictly outside

 

[living gardening]

I don't know why Blu Mat hasn't gotten on the band wagon with a fish tank resivoir. Just have it set up with one of the filters that use the spiraling water and catch through gravity. . . lol. I have thought about a 10-25 gal set up next to the tent so I can get fresh fish water for the girls. I figure if I catch aa deal at a garage sale then fine. I don't like paying for much. . . like 10-25 bones for an old kids room setup is up my alley.
BTW to Don't Bogey, could you propagate those fresh water snails and turn them into sweet ferts??? I know of the little punks you speak. If you see them in a lake, you can pick them like dandelions. I also would like to know the fert values of composted eurasian milfoil. I could build a business with all the stuff I could get for free if it makes good organic ferts . . .

 

[Don't Bogart]

The snails I bought don't breed I was told. Then bam I have a baby snail.

O.K. I've learned some more about snails. "First, they’re hermaphrodites, fitted with both male and female reproductive plumbing, and can mate with any member of their species they want." Quoted from KQED website. They can also self replicate. Also it appears that they don't necessarily eat live plants. They do chew up dead and dying plants. So with my plants disappearing I figured out it was the town water not the snails.
All these years I thought otherwise. Who knew?? I got one tank bombed with them. The leaves are riddled with snail eggs. BUT the plants are doing pretty well so I guess my fight with them is over. If I really need to get rid of them I got this bigass gold fish weighing about a pound or more in another tank who will decimate them in a matter of weeks,

 

[living gardening]

Has anyone tried to breed snails to harvest them to use as compost???
I gotta figure those shells are easily broke down and full of calcium?
I know they multiply fast so it may be sustainable . . .

 

[Richard Drysift]

 

[Northwood]

Has anyone tried to breed snails to harvest them to use as compost???
I gotta figure those shells are easily broke down and full of calcium?
I know they multiply fast so it may be sustainable . . .

Removing biomass from one medium to another has often resulted in negative outcomes, such as that which led to the collapse of the North American Atlantic fishery.

But if you're looking for calcium carbonate for some reason, it's cheap and available nearly everywhere in the form of limestone.

 

[living gardening]

Removing biomass from one medium to another has often resulted in negative outcomes, such as that which led to the collapse of the North American Atlantic fishery.

But if you're looking for calcium carbonate for some reason, it's cheap and available nearly everywhere in the form of limestone.

It's not the calcium, with water soluble forms available it just a bonus. You find in nature that different areas amass different nutrients. This is why kelp is so popular.
If I am land locked, wouldn't be smart to try to make up most of those TM's with locally available resources (some of which are invasive).
I would love to make FFA with Aisin Carp, or Fish Hydrosalate with the fish that come in from local bow fishing tourneys. All rough fish (Carp, Buffalo all very oily) and all thrown into a dumpster and put in the land fill. I how ever, like most can't take a dumpster at a time and so the resource is lost.
God provides all things in Nature.
It's up to us to figure out where those resources are.
I am a forager, more than I hunt of fish anymore. I know what resources are overly abundant. . . .Those little buggers are one of 'em. At least around here.

 

[Northwood]

God provides all things in Nature.
It's up to us to figure out where those resources are.
I am a forager, more than I hunt of fish anymore. I know what resources are overly abundant. . . .Those little buggers are one of 'em. At least around here.

Well they better be abundant, considering snails and other mollusks should be one of the most visibly abundant animals in freshwater ecosystems. They feed on algae scum and bacterial biofilms, so eat very low on the food chain. In turn they are a critically important food source for ducks, turtles, fish, and crayfish. Their hunger for photosynthetic food sources such as algae and decaying water weeds allow them to play a role in maintaining the balance between eutrophication and oligotrophic conditions, thus preventing large seasonal fluctuations in water oxygen levels. Shelled mollusks also play an important role in calcium cycling in freshwater. Many species have become extinct or extirpated in recent decades due to human activities.

It may be up to us to discover where natural biomass exists in abundance, but no God can be depended upon for replenishing them later. There is always consequences - large or small.

Edit: This publication from the Virginia Cooperative Extension should help shed light on the issue: https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/420/420-530/420-530.html