Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Anyone growing minnows? I have some water troughs (for cow/horses) that Ive got an aerator in and plan on growing duckweed on the top. I'm pretty sure with a rabbit pellet or two for fertilizer I should be able to grow duckweed for my Tilapia. I was hoping grow minnows under the duckweed, letting them replace the rabbit fertilizer. I know I would need some basic structure / rocks to the bottom of the trough for egg laying....any advice?

I was able to raise minnows in just a 15 gallon trough. Nothing on the bottom, but they are very small and ended up in my big tank. Now I am raising them in a 1100 gallon pool. I just started these will see how they do.

depends on the minnow.. rosy red, or fathead minnows need a "shelf" of some kind to lay eggs on, the male minnow uses his "fat head" to take care of the minnows.. i use clay pots in my minnow tanks for breeding
don't use rabbit poop.. the fish and fish food will provide the nutrients the plants need

thank yall. what do you feed the minnows? Do they need to be in the shade? I assume my greenhouse will be to hot durring summer...

once they breed do you feed the adults and wait for the young to grow and then repeat?

i feed them bloodworms, scuds, daphnia and regular flake fish food..
when i find that they've layed eggs on a pot, i try to catch the male and put him with the eggs in a different tank, when the fry hatch, i remove the male.. i wait until i have a few tanks of babies before feeding the adults to the fish

I feed them flake fish food and I just leave them do what they do.

Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it. I have to figure out how to organize this set up, and you explaining the process really helps me do that. I will probably start with 2 troughs and duck weed. Outside of my AQ green house I have a meat/egg Quail aviary. I can only get Organic poultry starters without animial or insect protein due to FDA laws. Unlike most poultry, quail need more than plant protein (ie insect/aniial). Im hoping minnows can supply there needs in winter and my bug traps/BSF larva in summer along with supplementing the tilapia, since I cant free range my quail. Ive got a 50 lb bag of organic fish meal now to tide me over until this gets going.

Glad to know you put the male with the eggs. Can you mix babies in the same tank that are a few weeks apart??... thats a no no in the rabbit world!

when do u harvest? how many etc.. I like how easy you make it sound!

I just use them for fishing. It varies, in the last tank we just let them flow to the bass tank and the bass kept them all in check, so no real way to know for sure, there where always babies though. . I just started this tank 900 gallons last month, and with this cold weather I am not expecting babies till it warms up. On the previous tank the adults could not fit through the drain so only the babies went to the bass tank.