# Rabbit or Guinea pig droppings as fertiliser



## Treestone (27 Jun 2020)

I was just going through some older aquarium literature and they mentioned rabbit or guinea pig droppings are great fertiliser when dried and used like root tabs as they are already in a tab like form. Wondering if anyone has ever tried this and if it could actually work?


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## dw1305 (27 Jun 2020)

Hi all, 
Welcome. They will work to some degree. Caviomorpha and lagomorphs are both vegetarian and very effective at removing nutrients from their food (they are monogastric, but coprophagus), so you don't really risk much in the way of an ammonia spike. 

A <"balanced fertiliser would be better">, I don't know what is available to you in New Zealand. Have a look at our <"fertiliser forum">.  

cheers Darrel


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## sparkyweasel (27 Jun 2020)

It was common practice before 'proper' fertilisers and root tabs were available. People often thought it was a wind-up when told about it, and weren't convinced until they saw a demonstration.
It seemed to work, based on observation.
You need the bigger, round rabbit droppings, not the little squishy ones.
And don't forget the most important thing;  when you dry them in the oven, make sure your wife or mother is out.


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## Simon Cole (28 Jun 2020)

Yes I have, about 23 years ago when I was just a lad. This was before salts were known as aquarium fertiliser.  It's not worth doing because they are probably full of hormones (endocrine disruptors), some (small amount of?) ammonia, and pathogens. I guess my parents were not very scientific back then, and I knew no better.


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## Oldguy (28 Jun 2020)

Treestone said:


> rabbit or guinea pig droppings


Sheep poo was also used, but typically the fish kept were live bearers and as tough as old boots. Best to use 'pure' chemicals and follow the EI route. Garden fertilizers of the type Epson Salts(magnesium sulphate), potassium sulphate etc. In the UK high purity chemicals from eBay are cheaper than low purity 'garden fertilizers'. Potassium nitrate may be a regulated substance, it is in the UK, so buy it as 'saltpeter' for food curing. Be wary of ammonium and urea fertilizers.

I use under gravel filtration to pull the fertilized water column down to the plant roots, it obviously has other benefits too. Plants absorb nutrients through their leaves and can be grown in an inert substrate of plane gravel.

You could use a little loam mixed with aquarium gavel if you want to use a nutritious substrate. Currently having a little play at growing lotus plants using loam blinded by gravel.

Good luck with your endeavors.


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## Simon Cole (28 Jun 2020)

Oldguy said:


> Sheep poo was also used



You couldn't do it now due to the near-certain risk of ivermectin contamination.


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## Treestone (28 Jun 2020)

Thanks for all the insights and considering that some companies here make their own root tabs (50c each) and dry ferts  ( EI $8 a litre macro + micro) it is definitely a fair better path to go down. This company (aquaticplants.co.nz) suggested to dose their low tech ferts with flourish excel, could I possibly use a passive CO2 system to circumvent this additional cost.


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## Simon Cole (28 Jun 2020)

Yes well they do have a commercial interest.
OldGuy gave you some very good advice when he said to use salts.
I made my own root tabs a few years ago, but never needed them. A waste of my time to be frank, but it took me a while to finish researching the topic and my mind was shot at the time.


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## Ray (29 Jun 2020)

Oldguy said:


> I use under gravel filtration to pull the fertilized water column down to the plant roots, it obviously has other benefits too. Plants absorb nutrients through their leaves and can be grown in an inert substrate of plane gravel.


Off topic but you are using under gravel filtration and successfully growing plants in gravel!? I used UGF for many years as a kid, but couldn’t grow plants for long and never quite figured out if that was due to lack of nutrients (e.g. Elodea would go crazy for a while and then stall), because many plants were a con (I tried to grow stuff you simply can’t buy today, probably for good reason), or because of the UGF.


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## Oldguy (29 Jun 2020)

Ray said:


> using under gravel filtration and successfully growing plants in gravel


Hi Ray, yes is the simple answer. Never liked the idea of a cold stagnant substrate. Also UG is a first rate pre-filter  for an external canister. I just EI dose the water column and away they go. Most water plants absorb nutrients through their leaves (and terrestrials too like a foliar feed).

Plain gravel over UG doesn't stay 'plain' in the long run, only occasionally vac the gravel. Rely on water changes. However I do run 24/7 a large external trickle filter/oxidation tower, a tad wasteful on CO2 but the fish and shrimps are happy.

My lotus project has UG plates, double geotextile, 2"/50mm of loam and a capping of 1"/25mm of aquarium gravel. Uplift pump is struggling to pull water through the loam but there is a flow and the water is clear. Lotus seeds have just started to put out roots, 

Hope this was helpful.


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## Ray (29 Jun 2020)

Oldguy said:


> Hope this was helpful.


Fascinating.  Thank you!  So do you drill the tanks and let them drain straight into a sump or run a powerhead on the uplift?  Since you mention uplift pump, I guess the 2nd?


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## Oldguy (29 Jun 2020)

Ray said:


> run a powerhead on the uplift
> 
> The lotus project is a 13 gal plastic tub with a power head.
> 
> ...


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## Geoffrey Rea (30 Jun 2020)

Treestone said:


> rabbit or guinea pig droppings are great fertiliser



For all the options out there, I think we’ve found a limit as to what can be dependably input into the fert calculator @Zeus. 😂


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## Siege (30 Jun 2020)

They are cheap, BUT....

Need a million droppings.........

Do you know how much it costs to keep that many rabbits?

I’ve got to use some electric when I turn the oven on to dry them out, that costs money you know.......

Then I find out one of my rabbits went rogue and wasn’t a vegan. Drove him 2.4 miles down the road to a new home. The cost of petrol nowadays.........

Batch ruined.

Started again........

SUCCESS............

Dog eats all my prepared rabbit droppings, massive vets bill.......

Start again..........


Start a thread ‘How do I stop rabbit droppings floating’


I’ll get Bill Gates on an equation for the spreadsheet. 😃


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## Geoffrey Rea (30 Jun 2020)

I’ve fitted the guinea pigs with their scuba gear @Siege but so far they’re refusing to do their business in the substrate 😔

I’ll deploy Tiddles next see if he’s any more cooperative....


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