Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am pleased to report that bluegill survived a winter freeze in Denver, CO that turned an IBC fish tank into a large ice cube. Only two of the 12 or so blue gill i had in there died through this freeze. Almost the entirety of the tank turned into an ice cube. There was about a 1 to 2 foot cubic area in the dead center of the tank that stayed as water. I think with a larger fish population, I likely wouldn't have as great of success, as there would be less room once the tank starts to freeze.

I wanted to run this "experiment" to see if my tank needed supplemental heating for the bluegill to survive.

Next year I intend to have a tank set up in my basement to transfer the fish once the winter turns cold, but I was pleased at the hardiness of the fish at being able to survive the freezing temperatures.

It's almost time to start planting seeds indoors for this year's crop!


So if you're in Denver, CO or surrounding areas, I highly recommend bluegill if you're looking for a fish that will withstand the cold.

Was the open area where you were aerating? I like to keep them just above freezing (33 F at the lowest) but that's a lot easier here. By the way my larger ones which are in an IBC are eating pretty well now with water temps in the mid 50s. The smaller ones which are in three separate tanks might be eating but they don't want to be seen.

Actually, the water in the tank froze around the airstone that was in there, and I couldn't see any air bubbles in the water that was not yet frozen. I learned this by using a hole saw to cut down through 6" or so of ice before hitting water. Didn't see any air bubbles in water, so I disconnected the hose from the aerator and attached a new hose and ran that down the hole I had just cut open.

The way I keep the temp warm enough in my Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) is a stock tank heater on a timer. Without the timer the heater gets the water up into the 40's. My other system, the aquaponic system, uses a digital thermostat hooked to a cheap space heater in the greenhouse. Lowest setting on the thermostat is 41 F so if the air temp falls below this it will come on. Hasn't happened much this winter. The two systems are usually about the same temp.

Looking to put bluegill in my home system in Iowa. What temp. range do they prefer? What food do you give them? How fast do they grow?

Also - looking at hobbyist aquariums (some raise bluegill, bass, etc - why raise game fish if not to eat?) - they all have rocks in the bottom of the aquarium. Any need to do that in an aquaponics setup? How about if I plan to breed the little suckers? Any help here?

The kicker to those questions is that they grow very slowly. Maybe with warm water around 80 the growth would be fast enough but I haven't heard of anyone getting any to eating size in less than 2 years and 3 or 4 is probably more realistic. Is this going to be an indoor or an outdoor system Gary (I'm hoping it's either greenhouse or indoors with your winter temps)? I feed them mostly commercial trout chow but compost worms, cooked egg, caterpillars and most other insects are on the menu. Grasshoppers and crickets are pretty abundant there at certain times of year and they'd work as well. If you can get yellow perch they grow faster and would probably be a better choice. Having said that Bluegill are extremely durable.

Indoor system for now - experimenting with different things. Finally got the system to cycle after 3 months and several attempts. Got to get some fish in it or my plants won't grow much longer. Planning on building an in-ground greenhouse, provided I get support from my better half (and maybe from a friend that owns a backhoe - gotta expand my circle of influence...).

Back from the days before aquaponics... seems I remember someone with some type of hybrid bluegill in the Midwest... Ohio? they were huge and grew fast. He also had some hybrid yellow perch. I'll have to see if I can find that again.

I'm not a big fan of bluegill due to bones, but YP is as fine an eating fish as you can get....

Poppa

Hybrid bluegill do grow faster than regular bluegill so that's a thought. I still like the idea of Yellow perch better though.

Hi Folks,


My name is Rafi I currently reside in Aqaba is a Jordanian port on the Red Sea's Gulf of Aqaba. I am setting up my first aquaponics system, I am trying to decide which fish species to raise, I would like Hybrid Bluegill but can't find information on:


· Are they do reproduce rapidly and spawning season:

· Stocking Density (kg/1000ltr):

* Total time to market size (months):

· Survival (%):

· FCR:

· Will eat just about anything and crude protein in feed (%):

· Pro's:

· Cons:

· Average wholesale price/kg:



Any comments or suggestion are welcome.