Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The reason I've heard that blue gill are not such great tank culture fish is that they are aggressive. What the guy said is "if you put bass and blue gill in a tank, the blue gill will kill the bass even though in normal pond culture, the bass eat blue gill." I'm not sure if this equates to aggression against other blue gill and I'm not sure what kind of feed requirements they have. I'm interested to know though.

Update, We planted the first batch of butter lettuce today in the first growbed. Still no more fish in the trap. So, I am taking 2 gallons of nitrate rich water from our aquarium, and pouring it around the plants. Will do that each day until I get more fish. I am also going to vacume the aquarium, and put the crap into the growbed as well as the squeezings from the filter. I am hoping that by infusing the AP system with this starter swill, I can hold out until I can catch some more fish...maybe in the morning. I am attaching pictures.

The readings from the water test are the same as they were yesterday, I am expecting them to change once I get the starter slime in from the aquarium. In the pictures you can see the mini-greenhouses I put over the butter lettuce. The water is keeping them warm inside. They are strapped down, as the wind can get rough here. I am also attaching a picture of our farm pond, which is the eco-system we are trying to mirror. I think the water color of the pond, and the FT are pretty close. Also added a plastic gerbil habitat tube as a hide for the fish.

Careful putting dye in the water if you're not also willing to drink the stuff. Or since you're naming the fish, are they pets, not food? Everything is looking good!

The die that I am using is organic. It doesn't affect critters in any way. It is for farm ponds. All of our animals drink it. What you see is 1/4 of a teaspoon, versus 1-2 gallons for the entire pond. Doesn't matter, CookieCows is still mad at me for putting it in there. Oh, and I anly gave the 1st one a name for grins, once his buddies join him, he will just be one of the crowd, and yes, we will be eating them.

I can't help it ... it looks unnatural to me! That's all I need are blue and green varigated lettuce leaves. Hmm....unless it makes money

As a safety feature in Aquaponics003, are you able to drill a hole in the riser and run the pvc pipe through the step rather than over the top in a position where someone may trip over it...pass it by the loving wife 1st tho


Like the way it is shaping up BB

According to what I have read, they tend to compete for the food, causing up to 27x weight-gain variations. Feeding more often helps. Protein needs to be about 40% for best weight gain. Lots of other stuff here... http://www.ncrac.org/NR/rdonlyres/86949 ... r12303.pdf

I wonder if the crowding that works well to reduce tilapia aggression would work with sunfish?

Crowding and providing nothing to argue over helps with agression in multiple species. Give it a try.

I didn't take AP003, but the BBproject101 requirements are never to permanently set something up unless you are absolutely sure it works, or you will have to take it all apart....LOL..... I have insulation wraps, and tiedowns, and conduit for the electrical, I just wanted to make sure that everything worked first. Thanks for the suggestion though. Today, I built the rock wall with a two level fountain to spills into the pond. Turned out pretty nice, although I still have some dressing up to do. I am going to attempt to grow a bonzai tree aquaponically using the fountain pump, and spilling the return back into the tank. Even though it will be inside the greenhouse, we still want it look nice. In the summer months, the greenhouse will be very much "open" so I am trying to make the tank look more like a tiny pond with a waterfall. Our pond doesn't have the waterfall, but it backs up to a very steep bluff. Probably just me getting carried away.....

Perfectly acceptable in the company of fellow aquaponicists BB.....

Any excess will become obvious if you're "carried away" strapped to a trolley in a white jacket

Gringos are considered insane here in Costa Rica anyway - so I assume I am safe since they will consider it merely another sign of mental instability. Or at least that will be my excuse...

LOL.......That is entirely possible. I have been trying to catch more fish for three days now. The trap keeps coming up emty, except for that first time. After reading the Hydro suggested, I think I should be putting fish oil on it. I will get some cod-liver oil tomorrow. I have even resorted to fishing pole. Only got a single nibble the evening, but I have high hopes. I normally only catch small little bluegills when I am going after the big guys, so it should be right up alley. It may be that they are just now starting to get active. We had snow less than a week ago. Book says they don't start spawning until the water gets to 70, and it is about 45 at present in the big pond. 68 in the AP system.

Success....finally!

With a little advice from a local fisherman, I was finally able to catch some Bluegill, and two Bigmouth bass as well. I will keep the bass in the sump tank, as it is cooler than the FT. It also has less clutter. Was able to catch 5 large bluegill, onle two of which did not survive the hook. I was using the right hook for bluegill, but not if you want them to live. My daughter suggested we use a larger hook, one that they couldn't swallow. Tried that, and it worked great. One of the live fish has a small hook in its throat, so it might not make it through the night. The ones that died will go into the first attempt at making crabby patties. Those with kids will know what I mean. I am also mixing in various grains, and also some commercial pellets that I bought. I am hoping that I will be able to just break the patties into a few pieces (they will be frozen) and toos them in the tank. Will let you know how that goes. It is nice to have grown bluegill, as well as the smaller one. I set the trap for over night, loaded with nightcrawlers. I hope to get a whole bunch of little ones. I am so glad to have the fish in. If the rain/smow storm they are talking about passes us by, I will post some pictures. The bass are 12 & 14 inches long.

do you have a cast net?