6 Best DIY Fish Feed Recipes For Natural Farming That Slash Your Feed Costs
Slash your feed costs with 6 DIY natural fish feed recipes. These formulas use simple, sustainable ingredients for healthier fish and bigger savings.
That little bag of commercial fish feed doesn’t seem like much, until you’re buying one every week. The feed bill is often the single biggest expense in a small-scale aquaculture setup, turning a sustainable protein source into a money pit. The solution isn’t complicated; it’s growing right under your feet and buzzing in the air around you.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Understanding Fish Nutrition on the Homestead
Fish aren’t swimming garbage disposals. Just like your chickens or goats, they have specific nutritional needs for health and growth, primarily revolving around protein, fats, and carbohydrates. The exact ratio depends entirely on the species you’re raising.
Carnivorous fish like trout or bass demand high protein, often over 40%. Omnivores like tilapia and bluegill are more forgiving, thriving on a diet with 25-35% protein from both plant and animal sources. Understanding this distinction is the first step; trying to raise trout on a low-protein, plant-based diet is a recipe for failure.
The goal on a homestead isn’t to perfectly replicate a lab-formulated commercial feed. That’s a fool’s errand. The goal is to create a "good enough" feed using what your farm provides, one that keeps fish healthy and growing steadily. This means accepting tradeoffs—your homemade feed might not produce the absolute fastest growth, but it will be virtually free and far more sustainable.
Key Farm-Sourced Ingredients for Your Feed
Your farm is a living pantry for your fish. The key is learning to see waste streams and overlooked crops as valuable feed components. You’re looking for sources of protein, carbohydrates (for energy and binding), fats, and essential minerals.
Most of what you need can be found in a few key categories. Some you’ll grow intentionally, others are byproducts of other activities. The real magic happens when you start combining them to create a balanced diet.
Here are some of the most valuable ingredients you likely have access to:
- High-Protein Sources: Black soldier fly larvae, earthworms from a vermicompost system, crickets, duckweed, moringa leaf, roasted soybean meal, sunflower seed press cake.
- Carbohydrate & Binder Sources: Rice bran, wheat middlings, ground sorghum or corn, boiled sweet potatoes or cassava. These provide energy and hold the pellet together.
- Healthy Fats: Flaxseed meal, sunflower seeds or oil. Crucial for energy storage and nutrient absorption.
- Vitamins & Minerals: Alfalfa meal, kelp meal, powdered nettle or comfrey, kitchen vegetable scraps (leafy greens).
Recipe 1: The ‘Grubs & Greens’ Protein Pellet
This recipe is a powerhouse for omnivores you want to grow out quickly, like catfish and bluegill. It leverages two of the most productive systems on a homestead: a black soldier fly bin and a patch of nutrient-dense greens like moringa or comfrey. It’s the perfect example of turning compost into high-quality protein.
The formula is straightforward and focuses on high-value ingredients. Aim for a mix by dry weight of roughly 40% dried black soldier fly larvae, 30% dried moringa or comfrey leaf powder, 20% rice bran, and 10% wheat flour as a final binder. The grubs provide the essential protein and fats, the greens deliver vitamins and minerals, and the bran and flour provide carbohydrates to hold it all together.
To prepare it, grind all your dry ingredients into a consistent powder. Slowly mix in just enough water or fish oil to form a very stiff, crumbly dough. The next step is forming the pellets. You can use a hand-crank meat grinder with a pellet-making die, or simply roll the dough out thin and slice it into small squares. The most critical step is drying. Lay the pellets in the sun or a dehydrator on low heat until they are bone-dry and hard. Any remaining moisture will lead to mold, ruining your entire batch.
Dry more food faster with this COSORI dehydrator's powerful 600W motor and spacious 6.5 ft² drying area. Enjoy quiet operation and precise digital controls for temperatures between 95°F–165°F and up to 48-hour timer.
Recipe 2: ‘Duckweed Delight’ Floating Mash
This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a daily routine, and it’s the simplest way to feed surface-feeding omnivores like tilapia. Duckweed is a tiny floating plant that can double its biomass in a couple of days, making it an endless source of fresh, protein-rich feed. If you have a pond or even a dedicated tub for growing it, you have fish feed.
To make the mash, simply scoop out a bucket of fresh duckweed. For every three parts duckweed, add one part rice bran or finely ground corn. Mix it all together in the bucket with your hands. The natural moisture of the duckweed will cause the bran to stick, forming a loose, wet mash.
Toss handfuls of the mixture directly into your fish tank or pond. It will float for a while, giving you a perfect visual cue of how actively your fish are feeding. This is a "feed-fresh" recipe; it cannot be stored and should be made right before feeding time. It’s lower in overall nutrient density than a dried pellet, but its sheer ease and endless supply make it a cornerstone of lazy, effective fish farming.
Recipe 3: ‘Soy & Sorghum’ Tilapia Power Mix
For the homesteader who grows staple crops, this recipe turns field surplus into fish. This is a classic, balanced formula that relies on the proven combination of plant-based protein and grain-based energy. It’s an excellent, storable feed for omnivorous fish, especially tilapia.
The foundation is roasted soybean meal and ground sorghum. A good ratio is 35% soybean meal, 40% ground sorghum, 15% wheat bran, and 10% alfalfa meal. Roasting the soybeans is a non-negotiable step; it neutralizes compounds that inhibit digestion, unlocking the full protein value. The sorghum provides the bulk of the energy, while the alfalfa adds crucial vitamins.
Preparation follows the standard pelleting process. Mill all ingredients to a flour-like consistency. Mix the dry components thoroughly before adding water to form a stiff dough. Extrude through a pellet die or roll and cut. Because this recipe has a lower fat content, it dries very hard and stores exceptionally well in an airtight container, making it ideal for creating large batches to last through the season.
Recipe 4: ‘Vermicompost Vitality’ Flake for Fry
Raising fish from fry presents a unique challenge: their mouths are tiny and their need for protein is immense. This recipe turns your worm bin into a high-potency starter feed that costs nothing. Earthworms are a perfect food for young fish, packed with protein and digestive enzymes.
Create a fine powder using roughly 50% dried earthworms, 30% spirulina or chlorella powder, and 20% finely milled oat flour. To get the dried worms, you can lay them on a screen in the hot sun or use a dehydrator; they dry into brittle crisps that powderize easily in a blender. The algae is a superfood, providing a massive vitamin and mineral boost for delicate fry.
You don’t make pellets with this. Mix the powders with water to create a thin, paint-like slurry. Pour this slurry onto a pane of glass or a silicone baking mat and spread it into a paper-thin layer with a spatula. Let it air-dry completely. Once it’s a brittle sheet, you can easily break and crumble it into tiny flakes perfectly sized for your smallest fish.
Recipe 5: ‘Sunflower Press Cake‘ Sinking Wafers
If you press your own sunflower oil, the leftover seed meal or "press cake" is far too valuable to compost. It’s a dense block of protein and fiber that’s perfect for creating sinking wafers for bottom-feeders like catfish or plecos. This recipe transforms a byproduct into a primary feed.
This is a simple, dense formula. Use about 50% ground sunflower press cake, 30% boiled and mashed sweet potato, 15% rice bran, and 5% kelp meal. The mashed sweet potato is the key; it acts as a vitamin-rich, heavy binder that ensures the wafer sinks immediately and holds its shape underwater.
The process is more like making dough than pellets. Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients into the still-warm mashed sweet potato until you have a thick, clay-like consistency. Press this dough flat to about a quarter-inch thickness on a baking sheet, score it into one-inch squares, and dry it in a dehydrator or a very low oven until it’s completely hard. These dense wafers will drop straight to the bottom, delivering food right where your bottom-dwellers need it.
Recipe 6: ‘Alfalfa & Cricket’ High-Growth Formula
When you need to push for maximum growth, this is the formula. It’s designed to mimic the high-protein, nutrient-rich diet of wild fish by combining an insect protein source with a high-quality plant meal. This is the feed you use for the final grow-out phase before harvest.
The recipe is rich and balanced: 40% dried cricket powder, 35% high-quality alfalfa meal, 15% ground flaxseed, and 10% wheat flour. Crickets are easy to raise and provide an excellent amino acid profile. The alfalfa provides a green nutritional base, while the ground flaxseed adds critical omega-3 fatty acids, which are fantastic for fish health and growth.
This mix works perfectly as a standard pellet. Grind and mix all dry ingredients, with special care to ensure the flaxseed is well incorporated. Add just enough water to bind, then extrude and dry thoroughly. The higher fat content from the flax means you must be absolutely certain the pellets are 100% dry before storing to prevent them from going rancid. Keep them in a cool, dark, airtight container.
Making your own fish feed is more than a cost-saving measure; it’s a fundamental step toward a truly integrated homestead. It closes nutrient loops, turns waste into value, and gives you complete control over what your fish are eating. Start with one recipe, observe your fish, and adjust as you go—you’ll be surprised how simple and rewarding it can be.
