Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It's that time of year when I need to close my outdoor AQ and move the fish indoors to the basement. I hate to do it as the tilapia seem less anxious in the outdoor features. I will load pics of them.

I have a 1/2 raised pond that is 2'd X 8'l X 4'w equipped with a self made solar heater where I housed my seven breeding Blue Nile tilapia. It is right next to our patio seating so it is easy to enjoy the fish activity. With the shorter and less sunny days, the pond temp is dropping, so I'm not expecting any more fry. These guys are headed to the freezer for dinners this winter. They range from 10-18" in length. I will measure and weigh as I harvest.

I captured 105 fry and moved them to another water feature equipped with an electric heater. Many decided to go live in the bio filter and although I managed to get some back out, I'm down to about 20-25 that I will be moving to the new basement system as soon as it's ready.

I'm just in the early planning stages of the basement revision. I plan to add a paludarium with an attached refugium in the loop instead of the traditional sump with bio material. My grow beds will be limited to leafy greens and micro-baby greens as well as herbs for cooking. The paludarium will support the fragile plants from the outdoor garden through the winter.

I'm hoping to grow out and harvest, then increase temps for breeding and have fingerlings ready to come out next summer.

Crossing my fingers!

interesting how productive the tilapia have been.
We cannot have them in Australia full stop (they are high on the invasive species risk list).

Most forms of warm-water aquarium chiclids are high risk and many also do OK in the wild
(funny about aquarium vs pond regulations)

the interesting thing is that we AP'ers put so much effort into managing and heating these species in ponds & tanks yet (apparently) they seem to cope reasonably well over-wintering in the wild - in our cases water temps <15 degrees C.


I wonder that many of you guys in Northern America don't seem to use glass conservatories much.
They tended to be very common in England built as an extension room onto the sunny side of houses.
They allowed many 1900's English plant enthusiasts to grow many sub-tropical species.
In addition to providing for nice areas to sit and warm in the rare sun (a very English thing....)