Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello everyone, I'm new to all this aquaponics World. I've spent countless hours reading about aquaponics since the day I discovered them about a year ago and I am about to start to build my own flood and drain system (around 1000-2000 litres fish tank).

My intention is to be able to feed my family as much as I can with my future system/systems, although I know it'll take time since I'm just starting. I have experience in growing veggies of all kinds for many years: Tomatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, peppers, etc, I also have fruit trees of many different kinds. Everything is organically grown and that is a must.

Since I read that on top of producing vegetables I can also produce my own source of protein I've just been crazy about the whole idea, this is exactly what I have always wanted to do.

As everything in life, the more you read about something, the less you know!

There are just so many things I'm unsure of, but I'll just mention a couple of them so I don't flood this post.

I know recommendations in the forum tend to be to use species from the area, but what specific fish would you recommend for the temperatures bellow?

Yes, I am really scared about the extreme temperature changes in my place :S

Thank you and sorry for the long post, I really tried to keep it short.



orange= average maximum temperature
green = average temperature
blue = average minimum temperature
(don't bother about the big blue bars, they are measuring rain)

Note that an average minimum temperature of 4C in January means some days will be 10C and others 0C.
I live in the hottest city in Europe so during July and August we hit 35-40C almost everyday.

Hey 3doggg,

I think the number 1 decider of what fish you grow will be what fish you can get locally. What aquaculture industry is there in your area and what are they growing?

Hello earthbound, there's no aquaculture industry in my area, the are some about 200 km away from where I live and they farm sea fish.

I am basically thinking that I've got two choices regarding fish, one is to use the sturdiest one I can find and have him "suffer" during the very cold (December, January) and very hot days (July, Agust). The rest of the year there is a great mild/warm temperature. I'd expect the fish to withstand the bad times and thrive/put on weight the rest of the year.
Two Would be to use a warm temperature species like tilapia and have a small greenhouse to rise temps 10 degrees in winter.

I am more inclined to option 1 since I'm new to all this, and playing with more variables such as the greenhouse doesn't sound so good to me. I could also be formulating my choices wrong and there could be options 3, 4, etc

Overall I'm just scared about the climate in my area and I would benefit from experienced advice. If anyone has grown fish in high temperature changes weather like mine I'd be most happy to hear about it.

Thank you for your response earthbound.

Oh, by the way, I've got a pond since 2 years ago with goldfish (Carassius auratus) in it, they don't grow too big but there's like 40 now and I only put around 9 of them in there.

Hi
And this ? http://www.ctaqua.es/english-whoweare-ctaqua.aspx

cheers

As I say 3doggg, you need to know what you can have in your area so far as rules and regulations, and then what you are able to get hold of...

No sense planning for tilapia or whatever species if you can't get them or can't have them.

Thank you for the responses guys. Nice Link SolTun.

I will keep on searching then.