Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If your wanting to stock your system with cheap fish and you don't mind what type they are, it's a good idea to keep your eye out in the local papers in the classified section. Often people are practically giving goldfish or mollies or similar fish away for almost nothing, and often in large quantities.

For people looking for ornamental fish and if your outside pond / tank temperature doesnt drop below about 15C the give convict cichlids a go!

They have been described as "the bar brawling reproducing rabbits of the fish world"

I was given a pair by a friend when i first set up my tropical aquarium.

They literally breed at the drop of a hat, in a few weeks i had about 75 babies swimming around. and the parents protect them like nothing you've seen before.

Just today i was emptying a BUCKET from my fish room inside that had dirty gravel and about 1 inch of water in it, it had been sitting stagnant on the floor for over 2 MONTHS. what do you think i found? a live baby convict. no food ?!?

I also emptied a 2 foot tank with about 3 inches of water in it that housed 3 yabbies, no air stones, no heaters, but about 7 baby convicts!

These bloody fish are TRULY INDESTRUCTABLE . They put goldfish to shame. But you need to keep them above about 15 degrees C. (Personal experience. they won't do much at this temp as they really prefer at least 20C, but they wont die.)

Apart from that you could probably keep them in a septic tank (not really )

Oh, and they tolerate a PH of between 6.0 and 8.0 ! unreal

Seriously, these fish are very hard to kill, even if you are trying!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do not release these fish into waterways for obvious reasons. They have actually set up self sustaing populations in waterways near power generation plants due to the warm water discharge.

Joel,

Read in your book about the pacu (silver dollar) fish

Have contemplated buying some for my aquarium quite a while ago, but after seeing them in your book i did some research on them and found that they are actually EDIBLE !?!

Had you included them in your book as an "ornamental" or as a possibility of an "eating fish"

Apparently they can get quite big with intensive feeding.

Couldn't find a thread that suited, so just slotted this question in here

Steve, the Pacu can get really large...... I don't know how great they are as an eating fish though... The only reason that I mention them in my book is because at the time of writing there were a couple of people in the US who were growing them in aquaponic systems, and a friend of mine had some in an aquarium..

I'd like to focus more on some of the other local fish at the moment with the stuff that I'm doing....... You guys over east are bloody lucky, lots of native fish that are useful.

Joel

Yeh, but u got better weather

Even my 1000 litre tank is dropping to 11.5C over night at the moment

There goes my ideas of a "smaller" system to start with (well during winter atleast)

All or nothing

Steve

Ouch........... Sounds like you need a bit of a greenhouse Steve.....

Yeh, been tossing it up, esp. since i remembered that many plants work on photo period and not temperature. (hence tomatoes in a green house in july aren't going to fruit for me )

But the perch won't feed well at that temperature.

Will have my work cut out for me in summer though keeping it cool.

argh!

Steve - I have the same issue regarding temperature, eventhough I live in south-east Queensland. Where I live, I have recorded temperatures as low as -4 in winter, yet in summer it get very hot - mid to high 30s.

I think a greenhouse - albeit rough home made job most likely - will be necessary for keeping temp up in winter. Not sure how to deal with summer temps in greenhouse situation - was thinking shade cloth addition and maybe some sort of exhaust fan????

I think a sepearate topic or even area for greenhouses would be useful. This is a seriously important part of the system.

Joel - I am interested in whether the tank needs to necessarilly be placed in the light. What if the tank was in my shed, but the grow beds outside of the shed to allow the plants to get the sun. Do the fish or the water they live in need the sun. Suppose the need light of some kind??? What about a fluro like aquariem setups??

BTW (Joel) have received my book, DVD and CD and am reading the book at the moment (thanks). Has kept me well occupied. As well as making me excited, another thing this is doing is making me think more about some of the issues I face and need to overcome, such as how to control water temperatures (from being too high in summer to too low in winter).

VB, The fish tank does not need to be in the sun at all, in fact the system does better when the fish are out of the sun.. When the tank is out of the sun, the fish stress less and are happier. Happier fish means they eat more, put on more weight, and supply more nutrients.....

So far as temperature issues, keep in mind that my systems are outdoors without greenhouses, and if you want to check out the maximums and minimums that I get, check out http://www.bom.gov.au I am only a couple of kilometers away from the JANDAKOT weather centre, you can compare these maximums and minimums with what you have in your area to get an idea. We do have in the 40's in Summer, and -1 or so in winter...

Burying the fish tank is always a great idea I reakon, for both thermal reasons, as well as using gravity to return water to the fish tank..

What about light Joel. If I had the tank in my shed - with pipes running through holes in side wall to and from grow beds, the tank could theoretically receive very little light. Would this be a problem to your knowledge. I assume that there is a reason for having aquariums on certain light cycles - other than for aesthetic purposes.

Thats no problem at all VB... Most intensive tank aquaculture is done inside sheds, just as you are planning.. And yep, the aquarium lights are purely for aesthetics and/or aquarium plant growth...