Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

They all seem to taste the same to me. The Red Tilapia is also more expensive in our country (South Africa) because it looks more like a marine fish so it commands a higher market price. The hatcheries thus charge more for the fingerlings.

wow , I was staring at the tank with a mate over a beer last night , and he said "why dont you grow eel in there"

really looking forward to seeing your system up and running , keep the pics coming !

will be watching this thread!

Almost done with my setup!

Purchased growbed media and setup the flood and drain system(hope it works,i'm not really confident i understood the concept). Pictures later.

I used 6 cubic meters or 3 trucks worth of 3/4" inch gravel,blue steel variety.

I think i made a mistake in opting for one big growbed rather than multiple growbeds.

I don't think i'll push thru with the japonica eels. Apparently they can't be bred in captivity. Most of the elvers come from the wild and only grown in tanks after. The breeding conditions are virtually impossible to replicate in an artificial environment. Reminds me of the salmon type of environment wherein they spawn in the river upstream. I'll be trying them but only a few. Takes around 1 year before they can be eaten.

It's either red tilapia or the giant gourami. I heard giant gourami are good eating.

You won't have any trouble getting good Tilapia babies, Phillipines GIFT Tilapia are great and used throughout Thailand as well.
By the way ,you `can grow strawberries , they do in SIngapore,,but you need a very expensive aerial root spray system.
I'm not sure what you want from this system??? feed the family and sell some?

Ever thought of Jade Perch from Australia,,they would be something different,their tasty and also very good for your health.

Keep us updated.

They grow strawberries here, but in the mountains.

I did this project mainly to scratch the agricultural itch that I'm having. I wanted to grow something and eat it :> I want to change my eating habit into a more healthy one, vegetable and fish are pretty healthy compared to meats and other processed stuff. At least by growing your own stuff, you have the peace of mind that its fresh and clean. Even the vegetables and fishes that we buy from the the market are somewhat shady. Well in my case its dubious,since most of our produce comes from China and who knows what kind of chemicals,antibiotics or technique they used to grow the vegetables and fish. Cancer rates are alarming nowadays...pretty scary.

Could i get the scientific name of Jade Perch? i haven't seen anyone selling fingerlings.

Sure,,,theyare Scortum Barcoo. Big exports of babies are being sent to Malaysia as they see the health benefits and potential of this species.

http://www.ausyfish.com/introduction.htm

Look here,they are excelllent suppliers and ship all over the world.
The site also has heaps of good information about a number of different species.

They do.... minimum order $3,600 + Shipping and Packaging...




You'd also need to check with your local fisheries regarding translocation and non-endemic fish species regulations....

Be interesting to know just how much they have exported overseas.... Jades are still relatively unknown and unobtainable on the Aussie marketplace....

Ten boxes @ $3,600 + delivery/packaging..... bit more than average backyard purchase me thinks....

Setting up an aquaculture business.... maybe, but even here in OZ most Jades are tank reared not pond farmed.... and who knows what contaminant diseases might affect overseas locations and operations....

Might be a case that farming a "local" fish with "local" fisheries support might be a better bet if you were thinking of a commercial enterprise.... and a local fish might be self breeding (like Tilapia) or at least there might be local knowledge of breeding techniques for a local species.

Be a pricey cost imposition on a business to be freighting fingerlings from OZ every few months .... mean to say just how many fingerlings would you get in ten boxes?

Right on CF!

Well pointed out Rupert , I didn't see the minimum order $3,600 , apologies all round. You need several friends to make that do-able.
Their pricing is 85 cents each for 1,000 so i suggest 10 boxes at $3,600 would contain substantially more than 5,000 fingerlings. A phone call would clear that one up.

Checking on legality of non-endemic species go's without saying. I doubt the phillipines would have a problem , but as usual I could be very wrong. Thailand banned redclaw just 3 months before mine where to be delivered:(

The trouble with "local fish with local support " , is that you must make do with local competition price. Tilapia in Thailand costs about AUD $1.50 a kilo,,,I imagine similiar pricing in Phillipines. How the heck do you make a profit at that price?

Anyway , cityfarmer was wanting to eat fish for health benefits ,, Jade Perch have the highest omega three oils of any known fish ( correct me if i am wrong). It is this very health benefit that would could make saif Jade Perch , a " boutique" seller ,, add the fact it could be considered " organic" and you may well see a decent price for your product.

Cheers

Hey cityfarmer. Do yourself a favour and initialise your system with some cheap local fish. Also, buy a water test kit. You have a big system ready to go there and you absolutely need to know your water parameters. Look fwd to seeing how things work out.

Here are some pics of the gravel and trial run of the system. You can see more at www.cityfarmerph.blogspot.com

I'm having some problems with my autosiphon. It doesn't prime by itself. The water lever inside the pipe is always lower than the water outside. I need to raise the outer pipe to start the siphon. When i raise the outer pipe, the water level increases and goes above the drain level, thus starting the siphon effect. Any ideas how i can do it automatically. For the inner pipe, i'm using a 2 inch pipe and a 3 inch outer pipe to cover the inner pipe. I have read a few threads in the forum and it doesn't say how long the standpipe(inner pipe) should be. How many inches should it be lower that the growbed media? Another thing is that, it doesn't fully drain the growbed. It drains it but it retains 1-2 " of water...very confused right now.. Anyone know what i'm doing wrong?

sprinkling is fine but turn the hose 180 degrees so it faces down, less evap.

Post a pic of your siphon CF.... might help with trouble shooting...

Do you think the hose will clog up from bio gunk later on?