Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm not really interested in aquaponics at the moment just the fish part. I was wondering what the stocking density should be for blue tilapia for say 1000 gallons. I'm trying to figure out how big my tank needs to be and how big the breeding tank would have to be. What depth?

I might try the wami hybrids too if they are really that more efficient than blue tilapia. At what size do blue tilapia start breeding?

Has anybody broken down how much money they have in the fish per pound of meat? If using commercial feed what is the ratio per pound? Is it worth supplementing food?

I already plan to either have a bug zapper above the pond or catch the dead insects and throw them in the pond and duckweed too.

Welcome to the forum

Not really interested in AP

Seriously though there may be someone here that can help you so we'll see.

Cheers

I'm interested in it but I eat alot more meat than vegetables, and fish take longer to raise till harvest.

You could still use the waste from the aquaculture setup to raise plants without having it circulate back to the aquaculture system. More has been going on with trying to separate the fish loop from the plant loop - essentially use a recirculating aquaculture system to periodically feed plant beds from waste nutrients without limiting the fish growing potential. Usually involves mineralizing some of the solids removed from the fish operation.

Cheers

To add to what Scotty's saying, even from a strictly aquaculture standpoint you still need a way to address the nitrification or the fish waste. If you don't dig on edibles, make an ornamental garden: re-using the water (rather than dump-out water changes) makes for a great garden, and a hardy system will produce fish growth you can dial up to the rate you need.