Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi,
I've been looking at trying to cost how much a system will cost once up and running and especially the amount of fish food. For example. If I were looking at having 100 silver perch. How much money and food would it take to feed them. I'm looking at different body weights and recomended feed for as a % of body weights and it is doing my head in.

I'm basically asking myself, is it worth it? Can anyone give me approx figures?
Thanks

Yes it's worth it.... Hang the cost, what other hobbies give you a return like aquaponics, and it can be a very cheap hobby...

If you had 100 silvers I would think that you should be right with 2-3 x 20 kg bags of feed in a year, probably closer to 2, perhaps even less depending on your water temps and how much you feed them.

20kg bag of feed between $60 and $140 depending on where you get it and what it is.

Instead of trying to work out body weight etc to know how much to feed just throw in a small handful and when they have finished that throw in another and keep doing that until the feeding frenzy dies down

Temperature changes eating habits so calculations will flex a bit.

Man, I really cannot tell you how much its worth it... Here in the states, a $5.97 canister of generic fish food(I have generic fish) has lasted me about three months and I have 11 good sized koi(generic, mind you). This may or may not be much of a comparison to the type of system that you are looking into but I would not let something as miniscule as fish food, deter you from one of the most rewarding hobbies on the planet. You will get back so much more of your initial investment I promise. The only catch is that you cannot be afraid of making mistakes or asking for help.

Great point

I wonder is there a better reward for Koi or tilapia for instance, the Koi grows and last longer the tilapia you eat? So whish would be better

I'm really not sure. The only reason that I have Koi is because they were given to me. When I get my second system built, I plan to move on to either catfish or trout. Trout can be kind of difficult to care for depending on where you are and catfish seem to weather better but are nasty. One of the main reasons that I got into aquaponics in the first place is so that eventually I could harvest the fish to eat but obviously there is a slower return on the investment when it comes to the fish side of things. If I had to choose my first fish in the experiment, it would have to be koi.

Hi Ezzo, as EB said, its worth it to get a return on a hobby and feed your family some fresh tasty food that you have had the pleasure of growing yourself. You could ask the same question about a regular vegie garden, or backyard chickens, or an ornamental fishpond/water feature

Jayendra did some costings in one of his threads looking at start up cost, ongoing running costs, and estimates of value of vegies and fish produced. He has set up a number of systems of his own and for community gardens in West Gippsland.

Colum also has some costings for building his large GBs.

I reckon I have spent nearly $1000 all up to build my system with a couple of IBCs, PVC pipe to plumb the system and make 20 grow towers, steel for the tower frame, screws to afix the free timber paling cladding ($30 of screws!), PVC fittings (they add up horrifyingly quickly, which is why I would avoid barrel systems even if the barrels were free), gravel for the growbeds, main and backup pumps, test kit, fish and fish food. The ongoing cost will only be fish food, replacement fingerlings and electricity for the pump. But I spent more on building my Chook Condo for 5 chooks which have so far only laid 5 eggs and eat a lot (they only started laying last week so I will cut them some slack).

I believe for trout, which have a very efficient feed conversion rate close to 1:1, if I want to grow out 20 kg of trout in a season, I would need a 20 kg bag of quality fish food at $80-100. Last time I looked, trout were $20-30/kg at the fishmonger.

Its worth it, but only if you enjoy it, and are willing to listen, learn and look after your livestock.

That's pretty close to the mark, I think I had 94% pellet weight to harvested fish (before gutting) conversion with my trout in 2013. I wrote it up in my first AP system thread in December 2013. Murray Cod are a lot less efficient that that, in my limited experience. SP and other species, I don't know.

Here you go:
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... 30#p431599

It was actually 91%, my memory must be fading in my old age