Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am getting close to putting fish into my system. They will be native fish that are bluegill and bass. Both are carnivorous, and I am wondering what kind of food should I look for. Lots to choose from out there, so I would like some help. Would like to get it in bulk if I can. Would consider mixing my own if anyone is doing that and can help a newbie out.

I've got blueill and bass in my 300 gal. tank. None of them like pellets. They love any sort of insect that lands on the water. I've been starting to feed them red wigglers, but the process has been slow and I'm not sure the bass is eating the worms at all. They LOVE bloodworms but I just can't see raising my fish on bloodworms. Talk about an expensive way to raise a fish you're gonna eat. I've also started up a black soldier fly composting bin and I think that's where it's going to be at.

I've been feeding mine a lot of fruit flies. My worm bin is infested with fruit flies at the moment. I've got a piece lid on the bin and then a piece of cardboard over the actual compost in the bin to help block out more light so the worms will go near the surface. When I open the lid to the bin in the morning the fruit flies go crazy but for some reason a lot of them just land and crawl around on top of the cardboard. I've just been picking it up and dumping it into the fish tank... at least 100 fruit flies. The fish go crazy.

In case my bluegill spawn and I end up with fry I'm going to set up some heavely shaded, shallow, dishes of water with leaf debris in them around the tank in the spring-summer. This should be really entising for mosquitos, not that they need any encouragement in texas. Then I'll dump the dishes into the tank and refill on a schedule that is a couple days shy of the length of time it takes mosquitos to turn from eggs to larva into assholes. Maybe I'll reduce the mosquito population and get some fish food as well.

All this said, bluegill should be able to be trained to eat pellets. I'm not sure about the bass though.

I was thinking about using fish chum mixed with the pellets to make "crabbie patty" of sorts. I would freexe them, and then just toss one in the water. I planned to put some low voltage lights near the tank to attract insects. Thanks for the info, maybe I will just try the bluegill fist. I have a large farm pond that has a bunch in it, and a live trap meant for catching bait (4-6 inch bait) which is where I plan to get my fish from. I can always trap some fish to use for chum, or sardines are cheap and smelly. This ought to be an interesting project.

I had this idea as well. A small solar panel to charge a battery and run a couple bright LEDs and place then just under the drain pipe, just above water surface. I think it's a good idea. Dunno if it'll work, but sure sounds like a winner.