September | October 2009

Feature title: Automated microdiet feeding, another step to early weaning

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Feeding
of the feed particles can foul the tank and
promote bacterial growth, thus reducing
dissolved oxygen levels and increase the
risk of larval infection.
Fitted with a computerised controller,
the automatic microdiet dispenser (AMD)
created by the Aquaculture and Fish Health
at the Department of Fisheries, Western
Australia - Dr Sagiv Kolkovski, Mr John
Curnow and myself is a simple labour-
saving system designed to overcome these
problems.
We found that there were only very
small and unreliable automatic feeders for
aquariums or huge ones designed for feed-
ing large fish during the grow out phase.
The feeders that were available were not
precise enough and couldn’t cope with
small quantities of very fine microdiet so we
had to build one of our own.
In 2002, the group was working with
Seriola lalandi (Yellowtail Kingfish) and and led to large masses of inert diet in for various research institutes, in 2005 a
Pagrus auratus (Pink Snapper) related to the water column at feeding time that the need to develop the feeding system to be
larvae nutrition and feed attractants. Some larvae could not possibly eat. commercially produced was recognised,
adjunctive work was being done on the The wasted diet inadvertently sank to so that the benefits of using such a system
by Justin King, Dr Sagiv Kolkovski, John Curnow, Aquaculture and Fish Health at the Department of Fisheries, Western Australia
bacterial loading of larvae culture tanks and the bottom of the tank and out of reach for would be available to anyone.
Artemia enrichment tanks. the larvae. Automatic feeding was obviously Therefore, an injection mould was
the solution; however there was nothing on developed that could quickly produce

Automated microdiet feeding,

Significantly high levels of pathogenic
bacteria were found in both areas of the the market that could cost effectively feed any number of identical feeders, along
hatchery. Yellowtail kingfish are pelagic fish 24 experimental tanks simultaneously, in with an easy to use touch screen
and are particularly susceptible to bacteria, very small amounts, distributed across the controller.

another step to early weaning thus a solution was needed.
Bacterial loading
The main cause of bacterial loading
Weaning marine finfish larvae from live food to dry microdiet is considered to be one of the bottlenecks in in the larvae tanks was identified as a
rearing marine finfish larvae. The Department of Fisheries Western Australia has had great success develop- combination of inefficient cleaning and bad
ing early weaning techniques for a variety of species including pink snapper Pagrus auratus, yellowtail feeding practices.
kingfish Seriola lalandi and barramundi Lates calcarifer Improving tank hygiene was simple, how-
ever a solution to stop microdiet building
up on the tank bottom
IAF09-Drier/Cooler was more difficult.
10.12.2008 10:53
whole tank surface, every few minutes of an
18-hour day. So, the group set to developed
our own system.
The result is a flexible modular system
that can be adapted to suit various aquacul-
ture setups, including any number of feeders
and an electronic programmable controller.
Our group’s principle investigator Dr
Kolkovski recognised the need for such a
system to be available to researchers and
Uhr Seite 1
fish culturists around the world.
The Automatic
Microdiet Dispenser
The AMD body is moulded and it is
extremely strong and splash proof.
The AMD can cope with microdiet
particle sizes from 100µm to two mm. As
little 100mg ± two percent depending
on the microdiet, is released without the
need to weigh the diet each time. The AMD
mechanism is based on two ABS slotted

O
ut of necessity, over several
years we have developed
an automated microdiet
dispensing system to help
facilitate our research and enable
earlier weaning of the larvae.
The system allows continuous feeding of
tiny amounts of feed, providing a constant
presence of microdiet in the water column
giving the larvae the best opportunity to
ingest the diet before it sinks to the bottom
of the tank.
Larvae feeding methods and feeding
systems play a crucial role towards the
way microdiet is received by the larvae.
The best microdiet is only as good as
the method used to dispense it into the
larvae tank.
However, this area of research is unde-
veloped compared to feeding systems and
methods for on-growing fish.
Continuous availability of micro-
diet is optimal for larvae and is best
achieved by dispenser automation.
Only a handful of automated microdiet
feeding systems currently exist includ-
ing, belt feeders, horizontal drums
with pneumatic pistons, rotating disks
etc.
Most were not specifically designed
for microdiets, and were adopted from
large pellet feeders with varying degrees
of success.
The larvae were being hand fed every 30
After manufacturing hand-made units plates located below a food hopper. An air
The need for development minutes. This was very labour intensive
The need to develop such a system
came about through our work with marine
finfish larvae and the absence of any reliable
microdiet feeders on the market.
To date our system uniquely caters
for both research and commercial larvae
culture. Usually marine larvae are fed by a
combination of belt feeders and hand feed- Fabric Belt
ing. Both methods have their disadvantages. Driers/Coolers
Microdiet tends to stick to the belt
feeder especially in humid conditions, while
hand feeding is labour-intensive and can
AMANDUS KAHL GmbH & Co. KG
Dieselstrasse 5-9, D-21465 Reinbek / Germany
easily result in uneven distribution and over-
Phone: +49 40 727 71 0, Fax: +49 40 727 71 100
info@amandus-kahl-group.de
feeding, causing excess amounts of feed to www.akahl.de
sink to the bottom of the tank uneaten by
the larvae. Worst of all, the accumulation

16 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | September-october 09 September-october 09 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | 17


Feeding
manifold constantly jets beneath the plates ters an operator-determined number of
in order to scatter the microdiet across the microdiet doses during one to four feeding
water surface within a target area. periods. This allows the culturist to provide
The controller - The AMD system pres- microdiet evenly across the
ents a wide range of versatile feeding whole day, or provide peri-
regimes for larvae and juvenile fish. The ods of relatively high and low
operator can easily customise for spe- intensity feeding that cater
cific feeding requirements on a daily basis for diurnal larvae require-
through a user-friendly touchpad interface. ments. A more constant
Alternatively, a series of feeding regimes availability of microdiet is
can be pre-programmed to cater for chang- provided when the larvae
ing larvae requirements, which can be used need it.
repeatedly for successive larval production Other applications, such
runs. as dissolved oxygen monitor-
The controller operates 24 AMD units
or more (optional expandable unit), either
individually or as a group of identical feed-
ing, lighting and pumping can
be integrated into the same
control mechanism in order
ers. Each AMD unit periodically adminis- to ensure concurrent opera-
tion of system
components.
The system
was introduced
at the European
Aquaculture
Symposium,
I s t a n b u l ,
Turkey and the
Australiasian
Aquaculture
Symposium
with very strong
interest from
commercial
hatcheries as
well as R&D
institutes.
The systems
are currently
operating in
18 | InternatIonal AquAFeed | September-october 09
many hatcheries (including a Spanish lead-
ing Turbot hatchery with 100 feeders)
and R&D institutes around the world. The
AMD system is now available through the
Department of Fisheries, Western Australia.
The system has been internationally pat-
ented and the revenue from the sales is
going back into research projects enabling
the group to continue and work on micro-
diets, weaning protocols and improving the
feeding system.
The project to develop the system, which
started about five years ago, was jointly
funded by the Department of Fisheries
Western Australia and by Australia’s
Fisheries Research and Development
Corporation.
mo re in fo rmatio n :
Aquaculture and Fish Health at the Department of
Fisheries
Western Australia
Australia
Email skolkovski@fish.wa.gov.au.
Website: www.fish.gov.au/amf/
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Automated microdiet feeding

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