Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How many people are running multiple fish tanks in the same system with different fish in each one? Is there anything to look out for in this type of setup aside from the fish getting into the pipes and mixing?

Disease is always a possibility when bringing in new fish with a linked system. However, I will be running perch with my tilapia during transition times this fall.

I've got two different types of fish in my system and for the most part they are in two different tanks though I keep the tilapia in a "cage" in the big tank so they can't breed out of control (tilapia need to be able to pick up the eggs up in order to hatch them so the cage lets them fall through and stops this from happening.)
In my big system I actually have 4 tanks. The two smaller ones along with their small grow beds can be isolated from the rest of the system for use as quarantine tanks when I get new fingerlings. They can then be tied back into the main system to keep the bacteria population up in those grow beds even when the tanks are not needed for the fingerlings.

It is probably worth some research before putting different types of fish into a single system to make sure that there arn't any diseases that one might carry that would kill off another. Not that this is a common problem but one should check it out before mixing.
If you do plan on having several types in a system, you probably want to make sure they will like the same conditions (temperature etc) since it would be difficult to keep one tank cool for trout and another tank warm for barra within the same system at the same time.

As far as keeping the fish from swimming through pipes, putting some netting over the pipes is usually a good idea, especially over the pipes that feed down to the grow beds or to a pump since the fish may not survive those trips so well. And you might be astonished at what a fish will manage to swim through. It just means needing to clean the nets regularly or they clog up with solids.

On a side note, what type of pipe covering(nets) works best to keep fish from swimming in? I thought about women's hosiery but wouldn't that clog up easily?

I have found window screen works, but gets clogged up and needs daily attention. I have replaced screen with a capped pvc pipe stuck in the drain that has many holes drilled in it. Works great and trouble free.

The type of net or grill to keep fish from swimming through will depend on the size of your fish. If trying to raise fry, then the pantyhose may be needed along with the daily cleaning.

I've been using some fish net material that has holes about 1/4 inch for my smaller tanks which still needs regular cleaning but only like once or twice a week depending of feed rates.

In my big tank, the pump intake is not so well protected so only large fish are allowed free in that tank since little fish would probably try to swim under the intake to hide and be sucked into the pump trap with deadly force. (when I clean the pump trap I usually find some gravel.)

I have 3 kinds of fish in the same tank and one cod in a linked tank because he would have a field day if he got lose.

I'm using some auto-starting siphons and am running between 2-3 separate tanks (perch+murray cod+goldfish). The siphons are great as you don't have to drill pipe holes in your fish tank to use them as overflows. However, stopping the fish going through is a problem and one tank nearly overflowed this morning as the netting got clogged up.

One option is to give it a larger surface area to collect. i.e. Rather than just have it flat along your exit pipe, make a ball-shape with the net at the end of the pipe. It will still clog eventually but will take a little longer.

Also, the flow through the net at a point will be less due to the larger "collection" area.

Some poor ascii art shown below...

I use plastic onion or orange bag to mesh off the end of my 40mil SLO pipe. It has a nice fine mesh about the size of a 3mil pellet. I can get a little bit clogged but a quick swish in the tank water once a week removes any gunk.

Depending on the pipe diameter and types of fry to be encased, I have successfully used the drain set up from a bath tub. You can even get strainers to suit from the hardware and this would enable finer screening prior to delivery of water to next FT [I have even used them with the plug to isolate tanks from the loop ]

HTH

I attach this to the pipe on the inside of my IBC FTs


other options come in the form of 'Feet' for pipes not a foot valve, just the screen bit.

Getting a bit Toe-ee there mate!
Great idea though

See my thread below for more details and application shots.