Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

It wouldn't be temperature that killed that little guy. I don't even think the aquarium they were in was even heated until recently. So temperature variation would be greater here.

Are they just dying or are they being attacked? Are they getting enough food?

yeah troutman, too keen.. ..truth is i was just real real real curious to know what the tank gets down too.

here's the funny thing, i thought the 2 deaths were tilapia, but i just feed them, and counted all 11! the deceased must be 2 perch i had in there, but if it was, they never grew..

Have you checked the accuracy against a normal thermometer. I was ripped off recently by an ebay seller who was supplying weather stations. Paid a fair bit for one and found that none of the sensors were accurate - in fact they are very inaccurate. Despite the 12 month replacement warranty, the ebay seller told me to get f$%^#$

Hey Robyn, i just couldnt wait, its not out of control.. YET!! lol

yeah, as i said in the previous post, i fed the fish tonight, and counted all 11 tilapia. well they all had that tel tail black dot.. i think i lost 2 of the perch, which means they never grew. there was no tells, mouths open wide was it.

..i'll talk to you wednesday about the drain times, you got me thinking.

i havent started dreaming about it yet beltiebandit, sounds like your further along than me

hi FF, they are US prices, which at the moment is about the same as AUS$. postage was around $40 and took 1 week.

hope it helps

Dont get alarmed Tim, I fed them tonight and counted all 11 tilapia, or 11 fish with that black dot at least! Also they are so friggin big its unbelievable! they have at least doubled, and some tripled, in size, and all carry fat looking bellies too! So i figure there is enough food..

..i think i actually lost 2 perch, and not tilapia. They had not grown at all.

Anyhow, you should pop over one day soon, bring robyn too, and you'll see the little beauties

The tilapia I have here are getting huge too...

I don't know if the black dot is normal or not! We may have accidentally bred some form of super fish. The other babies I have don't really have a black dot as pronounced.

woo hoo, a super fish!!! lol

we'll get x-ray vision from eating them

Either that or a big black spot .....

maybe both!! lol

Well i was swimming all weekend, and only just got to look at my system, and found 3 surprises..

1 - this morning, the water temperature was at 13.4C.. ..this worries me a bit, as we haven't even got to the coldest part of the year, will have to purchase a heater for sure. Can anyone suggest one???

2 - i have 2 flowers on one of the tomato plants, i've attached a picture

3 - the best yet, i have my first veg, a pea. Also attached a picture.

so all appears to be going well, the tilapia are all looking fat and happy. They are now eating a whole zucchini in 5 days! i've ordered some heirloom seeds, which will hopefully arrive this week. The plan was to use cheap crappy seeds to get it started and cycled in. I think its pretty close to that, so now i can start putting the good stuff in.

Lol super fish

Most fish just have black dots or other key marks when juveniles but it is quickly grown out. The chances that we have stumbled on a new gene of tilapia and then the whole batch contains this trait is millions to one.

We recently rescued our perch from the aquaponics and put them in a nice heated tank, as well as the tandanus. Ours are around 6-8cm in size so they have grown just not lightning fast as the tilapia have.

Btw how big are your bristlenose? i threw a couple 1-2cm ones in our ap and they are at least 5cm now When they get to 10cm and you have a male and female (male = bristles on face) you can sell that pair for around $40ea (goes towards your AP ).

Nic

Seems just 3 min after me you posted up an update

I mentioned before if you need a heater i can get 300watt aquarium heaters for $20ea. But the cord is only 2m or so in length.

As for the fish food (1/2 a kilogram) you wanted that should be ordered within this week.

Nic

Hi Nic,

Since i put all the terracotta bits in i haven't seen the bristle nose??? I hope they are still in there, the tank is not any dirtier, but not cleaner either. Lats time i seen them, they where about 5cm as well, but that was 2 weeks ago!

The tilapia are amazing fish though. They grow fast, eat almost any veg i through in there and are just great to watch.

I will hopefully have my second set up done over the next school holidays, and will be putting in another order for more, if you got them???

JJ