Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

OK I Hear you
This might be of help?
Alberta:
http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/science/enviro ... 01-001.pdf
http://www.greenhousecanada.com/content/view/965/38/
Quebec:
http://www.cultures-aquaponiques.com/
?:
http://www.northernaquafarms.com/index.html

I'll be intrested in hearing/folowing your adventure, living in a temperd close to sub arctic climate, i'w never considered other than native, salmonids/perch/eel best of luck
cheers

Here is a list of current license holders in BC. You will notice that barramundi is already there, as are several tilapia systems. You might be able to source some locally afterall, and not have to worry about importation and quarantine. http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/aquacultur ... ce-eng.htm

Here is a completely different thought. Using local crayfish in your aquaponic setup. They are easy to breed, they taste great, and there is extremely high demand for this type of shellfish. I daresay the local authorities would be very keen to embrace their use in a RAS type system, and I would suspect that grants would be available towards that end. They are farmed in a number of areas of BC, and they acheive growouts in about 14 months in unheated, outside waters. http://bcsga.ca/about/industry-encyclopedia/crayfish/ I would venture to guess that in ambient temperature water, they don't even feed for much of the year either, so in controlled tempertures, the growth rate could be very much higher. Most farms are using Pacifastacus Leniusculus, but I believe that on Vancouver Island around Victoria that there is either a separate species or subspecies, as I have personally seen specimens up to 25cms. There is also Cherax quadricarinatus grown in your area too that are in high demand at restaraunts. Worth thinking about anyway.

Of course the other thing to keep in mind is that your fish makes only a very small component of your returns on anything commercial. By far your greatest returns are from your plants so you want to be putting more thought into what plants you're going to grow and how you are going to market them to get greatest return.

Hi to all.
Firstly, i would like to thank for all your commends and suggestions
As a newbie in this forum i feel very happy that you have shown a great friendship toward me, words can not describe how welcome i feel in this forums.
I thank you much.
I will have poly culture on fish !!! Barra, Jade and Stealhead, these fish will live in its own tank.
By next summer i will build a heat pump to keep the Trout tank cool and keep other 2 tanks warm. After all we do not plant only 1 type of veggie!!!! ( that is my logic?).
This Fall and Winter i will build a Hot house with double skin poly and on grow bed i will have flooded raceways with plant on floats, on top of the planter i will have a smaller poly tunnel to keep the water and plant above 10C. The total water capacity about 50,000 litres and the fish will have about 25,000 litres .
That is the plan and you are welcome to suggest otherwise.
I thank you for all the suggestions you have made.
Cheers.

vdt

Further to this comment, the focus should, especially for quite a while, not be not the fish as the marketable product so much, as the veg is the moneymaker. Keep in mind that the veg products will come on-line relatively quickly relative to fish. I also don't recall you mentioning anything about the filtration that you are planning on using if you are going down the floating raft route. Filtration needs to be well considered.

It is probably worth putting into perspective.

With the size of system you are looking at of 25000 litres for the fish, and moderately high stocking rates of 20kg of fish per 1000 litres, you are looking at 500kg of fish. As you are looking at some warm water species, and you will likely have problems keeping the temperatures for them in the optimal temperature range for feeding for much of the year, you are probably looking at a growout time of about 12 months or longer I would guess with what you appear to be planning. So, that would amount to a grand total of 500kg of fish. Margins on fish are typcially pretty low, especially with small setups. Even being super optimistic, and saying that you can get a profit of $10/kg, that would only be $5k per annum from the fish. And IMO, that wouldn't be acheived.

Initially at least, it is probably best to do the lowest cost and easiest thing as it pertains to the fish, and consider them as inputs to the plants only. There are usually quite a few hoops and expenses associated with fish processing and sales, which for a starting enterprise, could be avoided almost completely if the sales was on plants only, and fish sales to be brought online later if deemed economical. Maintaining fish health can be challenging if you don't already have that background, and if really need to assume that there will be lots of learnings along the way. I believe that many of this forum's members can attest to how quickly things can go pear-shaped quickly with the fish. Replacing large numbers or all the fish really needs to be built into the plan for a startup.

That is my 2 cents anyways.

Hi Funraceboy.
As usual your 2 cents are worth a lot more.
The idea is to keep the fish as long as i can, they are the engine of the system, the $$$ is from the produces, the fish will be serve as marketing tool for organic veggies, these organic produce label is the only way to make aquaponic viable.
Base on current local market demand and supply rise fish and sell fish alone will never be sustainable due to energy cost to heat water and building, best estimate is breaking even, Like Earthbound said "the money is in the produce", i will try to target the high end vegetable and herbs.
The way to keep aquaponic alive once it is set is to keep the system running with minimal input, also i am thinking of doing worm composting during the winter time to help heating up the hot house.
Like you say and i agree one step at a time i will learn to walk first.
On the other hand it is quite challenging, but it is the journey that count.
I want to prove that agriculture can be done with zero waste.
Cheers.

vdt

The journey should be fun.

With your plants, maybe try growing a portion of the beds with Persicaria odorata (rau răm) once things get going, as it grows fast and uses a fair few nutrients, which is helpful if the nutrient level starts to edge up. It even grows well down to low teens in temperature. It fits in with your target market too. I have to keep hacking mine back (weekly in summer) so that it doesn't take over the world. I can only eat so many Vietnamese salads and salad rolls too.

I was unaware that there was any organic certification body that provided organic certification for aquaponic systems. The ones that I investigated did not provide certification for AP for various reasons, but the most typical was that the food inputs for the fish were not certified organic. Sometimes it was as simple as they just wouldn't do it for AP systems. If you have information on organic certification bodies that certify AP, I would be very interested in finding out who they are.

Cheers

To the best of my knowledge, organic certification in Canada would depend upon the growing method/media. If the plants are grown in a soil/mineral based media, they can be certified organic based upon current criteria. But if they're going to be grown in a different media (ie. coconut coir), then CURRENT certification is not possible because the plants are considered to be grown as aquaculture (for whatever reason, terrestrial plants grown without soil in an aquaponics system are considered aquaculturally grown). Canada does not yet have organic aquaculture certification, but I have read the draft and at this point it appears it will be possible (note is made that organically certified fish feed is nearly impossible to come by, and provisions for this non-organic input are made in the draft).

vdt - we'll have to get in touch, I'm in the process of building my AP greenhouse for small-scale commercial production and having someone else somewhat locally would be nice.

Hi ol1957

Using burbot as your fish could prove interesting as well. They are natives there, there could be grant monies available for trialling them in aquaponics, they are very prolific, they feed in every temperature and grow fast and big, they eat everything, and they are VERY durable. They are and have been extensively commercially fished in Canada, so much so, that there are few left in some areas. When I was a kid in Canada, I used to go out with my friends and catch a hundred or so in a single day, and that would keep the family in fish for a long time. I have caught them close to 2 metres long. They taste great, and have a firm white flesh like ocean cod.

Now I wish I was there to try them in AP! I will check with some of my contacts back in the motherland to see about hatchery stock, etc., as it is of interest to me.

Some info I found.

http://www.uidaho.edu/aquaculture/research/article
http://www.afsbooks.org/54059P

Hi all.
I have been busy building the tanks, 2 done one more to go.
Have located Ausyfish for Murray and Jade but they do not have Barra, so it will have to do for now.
Still have to overcome the red tape for import permits.
Most likely i can only do Tilapia from Florida this winter. that would be fine this year.
Believe it or not even with local fish i still have to do same paper work as in import, only different is local fish are a bit cheaper .($$ saving from transport).
For Furnaceboy. I thank you for your input. Have you ever try to grow Heirloom tomato and bean in your GB?
I am thinking of growing those Heirloom produces, my Lady claim $$ is very good !! Burbot is a better fish to fry than Trout, thx for the tip.
For Organikoi. PM your email and we will keep in touch, I think Certify Organic for AP is comimg soon in USA,
and once it is done there the rest will follow.
Cheers.

vdt

Hi to all.
I am in need to purchase some fry or fingerling from a good hatchery in Australia, i have contacted Ausyfish and they do not breed Barra.
Part of the requirements from DOFO Canada is the fish has to be tested for many known diseases related to Barra, so the fish will have to be originated from a certified hatchery company.
Any help, or suggestion is much appreciated.
Cheers...
Thanks...

vdt

I think you'll find Ausyfish has a minimum export quantity of 2000 fish...

You might want to try the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association, as they will be able to hook you up with an appropriate hatchery for your purposes.

http://www.abfa.org.au/contact.html

Re: heritage tomatoes. I haven't tried them in AP as yet, but I have seen a number of other members posts indicating that they have had good results growing heritage tomatoes. I will be trying a striped variety shortly, as they are just about big enough to put in a growbed.

Hi Fb.
It is good to hear from you.
Thank you for your lead, i have tried but unable to contact any respond yet.
There are supplier from Thailand but the minimum order is 30,000 pcs, my tank can only handle 1,000 max.
I will keep you inform, what happen next.
About heirloom produce, i think it is good to try them on AP, here in Canada those command very high price,2Xregular produce.
I have talked to some persons from DOFC about small size commercial AP and they suggested there may be enough niches market for produces came from AP. ie we import fresh produces from California, Mexico and China about 9 months of a year!!!!!!.
That is some thing i am working on for next year.
Cheers.

vdt