Difference Between Floating Or Sinking Fish Food?

Currently, fish feeds on the market are divided into two categories: floating pellet feed (extruded feed) and sinking pellet feed (pellet feed).

1.What are floating fish feed pellets?

Floating pellet feed(extruded feed) is produced by floating fish feed extruder, which is a new technology of feed processing. The expansion of feed in the extrusion cavity is actually a high-temperature and instantaneous process: that is, the feed is in an environment of high temperature, high pressure, high-speed cutter and high moisture, through continuous mixing, conditioning, A kind of bulky and porous feed is formed after heating, pressurization, aging, extrusion of die holes and sudden depressurization.After the feed is puffed, it forms the state of “popcorn”, not only the physical state such as the shape has changed, but also the molecular structure of the internal organic matter has also changed, making the starch more digestible and the protein easier to use.

2. What is sinking fish feed?

The sinking pellet feed(pellet feed) is generally the granular feed extruded from the raw material by the die roller of the pellet mill, which is generally in the shape of a cylinder. Sinking Fish Feed Pellets also known as a hard pellet, are more economical. Sinking feed will have water stability of up to an hour, and will gradually sink and settle on the bottom if uneaten. Since ingredients are pressed together it makes it impossible for the fish to selectively eat the ingredients they want.

3.Advantages of floating feed compared to sinking feed

(1)The palatability of the feed is improved. After the feed raw materials are extruded, the aroma is increased, the palatability is improved, and the food intake of the fish can be increased.
(2)The digestibility of the feed is improved. After the feed is extruded, the degree of changing the long-chain structure of protein, fat and other organic matter into short-chain structure increases, so it becomes more digestible.
(3)Can improve feed quality. Because the protein is combined with the starch matrix, it is not easy to be lost during feeding, and the protein is released only when the digestive enzymes in the fish decompose the starch, which improves the utilization rate of the protein. The puffing process also denatures the protein, inactivates many anti-nutritional factors, changes the tertiary structure of the protein, and shortens the hydrolysis time of the protein in the intestine. Secondly, the puffing treatment releases the encapsulated oil in the raw material molecules, which increases the heat value of the fat. The puffing also forms a composite product lipoprotein or lipopolysaccharide together with the fat and starch or protein, which reduces the content of free fatty acids and inactivates the fat. Enzymes inhibit the degradation of oil and reduce the rancidity and corruption of oil components during product storage and transportation.
(4) Feed extruding, the most basic is to reduce the content of bacteria, mold and fungi in raw materials, improve the hygienic quality of feed, and provide aseptic and mature feed for animals, thereby reducing the risk of animal diseases and reducing various pharmaceutical ingredients Second, the gelatinization degree of starch is improved to form modified starch, which has strong water absorption and bonding functions. Due to its high water absorption, we can add more liquid ingredients (such as oil, molasses, etc.) to the product. At the same time, because it has a much stronger bonding function than ordinary starch, the amount of starch added during the puffing production process can be greatly reduced. This provides more room for the selection of other raw materials. More cheap raw materials can be selected to replace those expensive raw materials in the formula, which can greatly improve the potency of low-quality raw materials and reduce costs without affecting product quality.