Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

What started as hobby as a chop and flip IBC has grown over the years. Last year I added the sump. This year I added the filter and made a plywood grow bed that is 3ft × 5ft. Let's me easily reach the back of the grow bed now. I also added 2 grow towers. If they are successful (they are doing great right now) I will expand and add two more grow towers.

The fishies are still shy, but they come up to eat now when I walk away. Little bugger will only eat flakes right now. Some of the bigger ones will eat small sinking Cichlid pellets but they won't touch the small nugget feed I got them. Spoiled little bluegill. I made a newbie blunder when I got them. I ordered 25 and while acclimating them I got called into work. So i had to rush it and they didnt do to well. So far i have lost about 30%. I will probably loose a few more next week. From the stress of the transfer. This thursday i pick up 40 more and made sure I had the whole day off. I have two 40 gallon tanks cycled and ready for the really small Bluegill. I felt really bad.

The 40 gallons tank are my DWC herb garden. Top tank is for the wife's fishies and my baby bluegill. Bottom tank is the hospital/quarantine tank.

With out further ado, pictures:

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Water quality is pristine. Trace ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10ppm nitrates, and 2ppm Phosphates. I chocked the random fish deaths to my rushing the acclimation on the first batch.

Well the fish got what I thought could be a possible parasite onset. These fish are pond raised and left to fend for themselves. I can only imagine the stress of being siened. So they aren't feed trained. Between stress and not eating it was only a matter of time owe and its summer now and my tanks get around 78degrees F in the summer. It was only white fuzzy blotches on the tails and fins. So I salted the system to 1ppt. Well I finnaly caught them. It was not a parasite, it was the other Blue Gill eating each other. I caught then in the act pecking at the fins and tails. Then the state of the fatalities bodies made sense, missing fins and eyes.

I have a very wide fish size from an inch to 4 inches. So I estimated about 16g would be 3% of their body weight. I was doing 9g twice daily to he safe. Now I am doing 10 g 3 times daily. Problem is, if the food isn't small enough to fit into their mouths easily then they won't eat it and it has to sink. Those little little ones will only eat flakes. I tried to get all the 1inch fish into my aquariums. But I missed a few and can't get them now. They waste a lot of food. I made a vaccume though so it's easy and quick to clean up. Maybe I should have gotten a few catfish to clean up the bottom of the tank. Four days and no more fatalities though. I have about 50 fish now. I think the higher numbers really help with food. The 5 babies I have in the aquarium herb garden hardly eat. They refuse to eat floating pellets also.

I have them on the Hikari fortifide Koi and Goldfish food. It has the highest protein I could find and smallest pebble size. It's a pain to prep it so they will eat it. Might see if I can find some really small slowing cichlid pellets. If it floats they won't eat it and if it's too big they won't eat it. They will tear up some flakes though. It's fun to toss in flakes and watch them go to town. Reminds me of scenes from the movie Pirahana. Only down side to flakes is the whole bottle is a gram, they she be eating a few bottles of it a day and that stuff's expensive.

Now my aquarium is cloudy from the wastefull blue gill. So daily water changes and vacuumed till it gets better. Atleast the minnows and goldfish in the aquarium do their best to clean up after the bluegill.

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Hi Ryan! Since they were pond raised, and with that appetite for flesh, are you 100% sure you didn't get Pirahanas?

As you and others have mentioned, I found that my sunfish were not interested in floating food in the beginning. I did two things to get them somewhat attracted to the food.

First, I started soaking the food for a minute or two to soften it. Then I would crush it against a hard cement surface near my tank, and it would sink most of the time, at which point hey would go for it. Eventually they got used to the mix of floating and sinking, and started going for the floaters too.

What I do now, is use a molcajete (mortar and pestle) to crush the food up a bit smaller. I've found that this creates some sinkers and floaters, and they will usually smash this when they are hungry. They have never really hit on the full size pellets. I'm using Aquamax 400. Biggest fish is somewhere around 6-7 inches.

You might be able to find a good price on high quality fish food at a feed store, like Standard Feed and Seed, Dinsmore Feed, or North Florida Feed and Farm Supply. I got my Aquamax at a store like that, for 50 dollars or so, for a 50 lb. bag I believe. It lasts a long time as long as you keep it cool and dry.

Maybe you can find someone else in your area to go in on a bag with, so you don't end up with too much. Or, you can always get more fish. HEHEHE

I am sure I purchased Sunfish. I am not 100% certain I got Bluegill. Not all of them have the dot on the gills and the dot near the tail on the dorsal fin. Being so varied insize as they are I wouldn't expect to see any color on them for a few months. Smallest fish are an inch and largest are about 4 inches.

I went to several seed and feed stores. Standard feed and Seed is where I found the Mazuri feed. Most places have the pond food and/or Sportsman Choice Catfish Feed. I didn't like that feed because if I wasn't careful it would gunk up my water.

I put the measured feed in a bag and mist it with water then use a rolling pin to roll it out. It makes makes a crumble. I might just bie the bullet and order the Aquamax Fingerling food online. It isnt any more expensive than what I bout them.

Here is pick of one of the 1 inch babies I n.v the aquarium.

Here is the current food: https://www.mazuri.com/mazuri/fish/koi/ ... clcl=en_US

Not the highest protein but about the standard for bluegill and catfish.

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That one does kind of look like a Red Ear sunfish, at least from the ones I've seen, but looks like a BGill too. All those sunfish can create hybrids though. And I think you're right about color development over time.

Mazuri has a pretty good reputation. You probably wouldn't need too much fingerling food to get you through the fingerling stage, I think. It usually is higher protein right, so it gets them growing a bit faster.

This is a pic of one of the Green Sunfish when it was smaller. They are really beautiful in color.

All the Sunfish are pretty. That ones got some vibrant colors. I wanted a mix of sunfish Like the Green, Bluegill and Warmouth. The farmers got them from told me to stick with the Bluegill because they were easier and did the best in Aquaponics and Aquariums.

Today I didnt wet their food and feed them in bed (spoiled brats). I just crushed it up and sprinkled it in. About half of them came up and ate at the surface. We are making progress.


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Both great looking fish!

When you guys were talking about sunfish I thought you meant these...

"The ocean sunfish or common mola is one of the heaviest known bony fishes in the world. Adults typically weigh between 247 and 1,000 kg. The species is native to tropical and temperate waters around the world. It resembles a fish head with a tail, and its main body is flattened laterally." Wikipedia

Would need to rethink the fish tank size, and grow mangroves in the grow bed.

Maybe, just a little bigger tank!?
I actually was able to see a small one of those on a fishing trip last November. It was pretty cool.

Here in the states, we have a somewhat cichlid like native freshwater panfish known as sunfish, most max out at about a pound, but some can get up to two pounds.

I can fit at least one Mola Mola in my IBC, right? I probably have enough salt in there at the moment.

RC, the guy at the fish farm I went to had a lot of praise for the Green Sunfish for adaptability to any kind of water quality,and just being a tough fish in general, and says thats why they are found in nearly every ditch, errrr shall we say, body of fresh water here in Cali.

Lol, I think you would need a system from SeaWorld.

We are talking about the Lepomis genre of Centrarchidae family. They are related to Bass, Crappie and Yellow Perch.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrarchidae

I haven't eaten one since I was kid. Normally the ones I catch are bait sized. I love Bass and Crappie, they are one of my favorite eating fish. So, I thought I would try my hand at Bluegill and if all goes well I can try Crappie next.

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The Warmouth and Bluegill are native here and Florida. I was reading and comparing the Sunfish the Green was the most hardiest and adaptable and could handle the widest range of water quality and turbidity. The Bluegill was also close in hardiness but was the easiest to feed train. It will eat about anything. Since I have never feed trained anything before I went with the Bluegill.

Hmmm, when I was stationed in Lemoore I never caught a Green. Caught a lot of Bass, Crappie, and Trout. I used to frequent the Trinity River and Kings River several times a month.

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The fish farm I went to is in Fresno. I haven't ever fished in the central Valley, but there are definitely many types of fish out there.
Down here in the LA area, the greens are pretty common. From my observations when I've been fishing, they seem to be more common than Bluegill, but i guess it depends on the body of water.

Interesting to know that the bluegill are easier to feed train.

Well, they are loving this stuff. Out of everything I have tried this one works the best. Looks like a giant bait ball in the tank when I put some in. I am going to have to find a bigger bag of this stuff. Hopefully now they are eating they will grow quicker and can eat the bigger pellets in a few months.

Some of the 4 inchers are starting to get their dots. One dot on the tail and dots on the either of the gills. So definitely Bluegill.

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Hybrid Bluegill are the best from my research. Most other Sunfish can take up to two years for market size. The Hybrid Bluegill have the best of the Green Sunfish and Bluegill with hybrid growth vigor. Grow it is about 12 months.

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