Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hey everyone, new on the boards but been looking at doing aquaponics for the last few months and finally gonna have the money to get started, I actually have this whole system designed that I'd love to share as its a complete sustainable loop and it all starts with the rabbits...

I have seen a few threads on here about people inquiring about using rabbit poo for fish food but nothing that has been tried and tested from what I can see so far, so I'm looking for some updates hopefully from those that have tried it.

Ok now on to my awesome system

Ok so at the top we have the rabbits, first off I intend to raise rabbits for meat so I'm gonna have 10 does for breeding and so at any given time I'll have about 60 bunnies, LOTS of rabbit poo which I intend to feed to my worms and fathead minnows that will in turn be used to feed both the channel catfish that I'll be raising and the dozen hens that I'll be raising for eggs. Now, the poo from the chickens will also be used to feed the worms so I expect to have lots of worms and minnows to completely satisfy the needs of the chickens and the catfish. From the rabbits I also will be getting fiber (these will be French Angoras) before culling them which from 60 rabbits should amount to about 180 ounces, and I say ounces cause Angora fiber is about $5 per ounce so that would equate to about $900 ever 3 or 4 months, or you could save it to learn how to spin your own fiber and in turn knit or crochet some items... Then you still have rabbit pelts for tanning or to sell as is (apparently they are used in training some dogs) and rabbit feed (cats LOVE these) and then of course the guts and bones which can be fed partly to your dogs and the remainder too the chickens as well. So all you need to worry about is feeding your rabbits, leave them out for the day to graze in your backyard, pen them up at night and collect that poo and botta bing botta boom you have a completely self sustaining loop, after initial financial investment you need not invest any more and can actually gain back money invested from the rabbit fiber... oh and one more thing, angora rabbits, if you had too many they are worth more alive as a pet at a minimum of $15 each though I've seen them go for $50 a piece : )

A friend also suggested to have a duckweed tank that the water goes to before feeding into the grow tank ( I planned to have a worm tank to catch all the fish poo since the worm castings are nice and rich for the plants anways and this way the fish are feeding themselves by feeding the worms) any how so with the duckweed tank you could essentially feed a few rabbits with it, albeit not 60-70 but a handful I'm sure, though I don't know too much about duckweed as of yet anyhow.

And for those interested I'm setting up my system in my basement and gonna utilize the windows for sunlight and some grow lights on the side, but this way I can maintain a regular temp all year long without the need for additional heating out side the house.

But rabbits are so cute =).

Hmm... I don't see how it's a closed loop system as you have rabbit meat/pelts leaving the system and nothing to replace the minerals.

Very interesting. Do you have pictures?

The replacement of minerals is done when the rabbit eats fresh greens, generally whatever is in the back yard, so there is a free source of replenishment of vitamins and minerals...

No pictures as i have not set it up yet, will be doing it over the next couple weeks though.

Have you been raising these rabbits pre-aquaponics or is this all a start up venture together - I'm def interested in expanding from aquaponics alone to a similar setup so please feel free to post on more of your experiences

I recommend against using fresh warm blooded animal poo in aquaponics since you could be introducing pathogens into your aquaponics.

Sounds like a full time job to me. That a lot of work.

I wouldn't use fresh poop directly for food because of disease risk.

Rabbits are not a terrible amount of work. With the right setup you can o your chores in minutes a day.

Duckweed goes have a lot of protein in it doesn't it? Rabbits can't handle wet food though. It causes diarrhea a in them.

My meat rabbit pin is a impt part of my AQ ecosystem. I obviously plan to grow a good portion of there food, I use worms under them to compost that will be for the fish. One problem I initially had was finding organic rabbit and quail food to sustain them until things get roleing. If you feed them the typical GMO food it gets in your system via worms/fish. Keep us updated on your trial and errors andl I will add in mine as I am doing something similiar. I just put 2 quail cages hanging above these pins that hold 12 birds each and let the eggs role out into a trough for 85 bucks. Woriking on a dirt pen for the majority of quail now.


Im not personally getting rid of my rabbits for guinea pigs but to add food for thought they take up less space than rabbits, can be grouped together, free range without running away or digging out, they live off easy to grow grass etc and rabbits, like fish, are hard to supplement 100% free range, they keep the grass perfectly cut and dont cause mud and are easier to keep, 1 igloo dog house and a small section is all they need as long as its got some poultry netting to keep hawks away. They do produce less food though, and its like eating a rat instead of a chicken-lol

Dont you think since he is not putting the poop directly into the system that the worms and minnows will process it and be fine for the fish as long as there healthy? Kind of like nature ...

Im curious if you should sun dry the poop before feeding it to the minnows, then fast the minnows a few days before feeding them to the catfish....I didnt even know you could do that so keep us updated. The worms will be fine just purge them first on cornmeal or coffe or granulated molassis etc.

Dont forget moringa trees to add to your duckweed! they complement each other very well.

The problem is not the poo so much.... (aside from the water quality issues it would raise).... but the possible introduction of e-coli... and/or salmonella....

The potential downsides... just don't out weigh any "benefits"...

I dont think e-coli or salmonella will be a concern with feeding worms to your fish in a healthy system, lots of worms and animal poop (and human poop) get washed into dams and streams naturally so i wouldn't be concerned personally with feeding any type of earth worms to your fish from rabbits or guinea pigs, you could age the chicken manure, well i guess I would.

I am doing something similar with rabbits and aquaponics, and I have a small colony of guinea pigs, just dont know if I can dispatch the guinea pigs, the guinea pigs are easy enough to feed from the kitchen and the garden/veggie patch but I think rabbits are a bit harder to source natural feed for especially breeding does, they go through a lot of feed and you want to be sure its good quality feed.

great thread guys, I look forward to seeing how you go.

cheers.

Grunta.

Black Soldier Fly Larvae would probably digest the poop and that would be another way to process it into a more useable form. Wouldn't hurt to make certain they were clean before feeding though.

True enough Grunta... I was thinking of the rabbit poo be actually added into the water itself...

I'm not sure how well the comparison between an open water system and a small closed system like aquaponics would work. Nature has dilution in it's favor.

Ultimately I just don't think it's worth the risk, personally, especially with duckweed which is simple enough to cultivate.

Dont you think since he is not putting the poop directly into the system that the worms and minnows will process it and be fine for the fish as long as they're healthy? Kind of like nature ...

Im curious if you should sun dry the poop before feeding it to the minnows, further reducing the risk of ecoli etc, then fast the minnows a few days before feeding them to the catfish....I didnt even know you could do that so keep us updated I may incorporate that idea.

The worms will be fine just purge them first on cornmeal or coffe or granulated molassis etc.

Not putting the poop directly in the system is fine imo, especially if the minnows or feeder fish are healthy and purged or fasted before added to the fish in your system.