Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The fish seem to line up at the base of my living wall and sit there doing something. They look like they are eating, but I can't see anything for them to eat.

They don't seem stressed in any way, and they occasionally swim away.

Any ideas what they're up to?

discussing school for their kids?
sorry

That's what my wife said...

Are they up hard against the wall doing it? They are probably eating, scraping algae from the wall. My silver perch keep the sides of the tank quite clean pecking away at the algae, and one of the small tilapia in my aquarium sits for hours scraping away at the sides..

My goldies do the same.... but they often swim up and down the walls scraping them clead

Ah, so they're eating algae! That makes a lot of sense, and would explain their reduced food intake. I guess there is extra algae growing in the stream coming out from the living wall (I wonder why, it does get the most sun light, and the moving water may help to circulate nutrients).

Thanks guys.

If any insects are living in the living wall, they might sometimes drop into the water and provide snacks, too.

Give them some duckweed!

janet: That certainly is a possibility, but it is strange that they are staying there for only a rare feed. Maybe the insects are very small or something.

jonnie: they have plenty of duckweed floating around on the surface