Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

the system ticks along very well, it's out in the full sun, so there is a piece of shadecloth over the tank.
dunno how many redclaw are in there, but there are many guppies and now 10 mussels

this is the current state of the growbeds

I got a bag of "locally" grown hydro watercress yesterday and I put most of the tops in the redclaw tank. Maybe some will shoot before the guppies trim them to death and I'll have some good watercress

The guppies are breeding like guppies There are some biiiiiig mamas in there

well, there was one small problem with putting the watercress in with the redclaw. I forgot that they are vegetarians there was none left that afternoon. 500g gone!

I miss the guppies. I don't think they handled the temp well over winter. How do yours fare.

we have many many many guppies

every now and then we catch a couple and put them in the monster tank never to be seen again

My other half would kill me. Frogs I could get away with.

Jaymie - are they guppies or just gambusia?

HE started it!

We have 10 or so Yabbies/ Coonacks in our bath waiting to set up our system ....on the verge. How do the yabbies/marron go in the system? Do they supply enough, how should I say it, poo, for the plant section of the system? In notice everone has stacked bread crates. Do these allow the yabbies to st out of the water? I have notice in the bath they are very happy sitting out of the water. Are there any major hints I need to know?
PS Jaymie, I like the shorts, used to have a pair similar!http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/posting.php?mode=reply&f=18&t=3245#

hi S,
I have lots of bright trousers shorts and longs

The bread crates were an attempt to give the redclaws extra surface to live in.
WE started with about 30 from 2cm long up to 15cm or so, and now we only tend to see two larger crays. They may have eaten the little ones

We have another tank that will be used for the redclaw, in a few months or so, once we get an area flattened to put it on

Do they supply enough poo for the rocks and grow beds? and do you have to clean out the tanks very often? Just noticed we had one death tonight. Plenty more where they came from tho.
Great to observe them and see what their needs are before setting up the system. Are they worthwhile in a system? Do you have other fish in the tank with them?

Hi Sfelt.

No, Nowhere near enough poo unfortunately,

We never clean the tank.

Yep, I reckon they are worthwhile (I don't reckon we have a good example of this cos over Winterr I fed them a bit too much and killed quite a few good sized ones )

Yes We have other Fishes in there with em, Guppies and Native rainbow, We are looking at getting more rainbows cos the nutrient output is still pretty low and the plants are suffereing.

When we get a chance, and the rain stops for more than 2 days at a time, we are going to revamp the system and give them more floor space, and hopefully put more in there or encourage the two big ones that are left to breed (assuming the are a breeding set)

Thanks for that Jaymie, It answers many questions. Probably hang on to them as novelty value/ pets I think and chuck in some fish to the top of the tank. Keep up the good work. I'd love some of your energy, maybe it's all in the pants?!

Yeah, No worries
AXL

geeeee it's been a very long time since I posted in this system thread

anyway, I got a pressie today with instructions to use it, so I did

This system has no redclaw in it that we can see (a miracle if there are any hanging out in the bread crates). But it does have some large rainbowfish and some small catfish and one little guppy, and some snails I think.






It ticks along very nicely and gives us heaps of herbs. The growbeds are under no shade whatsoever and the plants love it. Welsh onions, thyme, rosemary, sage, basil, fennel and some feral cherry toms.