Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I have a large garden so most of the vegetables that we eat we already grow. Because of this, the plants that I would grow in the aquaponics grow beds probably would not be eaten all that quickly by use and I would not want them to go to waste. I was thinking of growing plants in the grow bed area to then be fed to the fish. Does anyone have any recommendations of what type of plants would be best for the fish to eat? By the way, its in a shady area and its also pretty shallow so im looking for plants that tolerate partial shade and don't have a large root system.

what kind of fish are you going to use? some are vegetarian (like tilapia) but others are not..
to "grow" fish, it's best to feed a pellet that is more of a complete diet, and supplement with bsf, worms, bugs, veggies etc.

my first year outdoors i planted some of the same plants as were in the dirt to see what performed better (radishes and cukes tasted better from ap in an informal blind taste test in our house)
lots to consider, but there are plenty of folks with much to share here, welcome to the addiction!

I was thinking of starting with channel catfish, yellow perch, and bluegill because that is what the local hatchery has to offer. I do plan on feeding commercial pellets and also giving them worms, duckweed and other more natural foods. I was thinking of growing some radishes and leaf lettuce because they seem to be pretty prolific and shade tolerant. The thing is, we all ready grow a lot of vegetables so their is probably going to be some surplus. Would catfish, perch and bluegill eat the vegetables if it was offered it to them?

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http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/2010/dor ... rition.htm

They will prey on each other so keep separate.
Pellet feeding is the way to go good luck

i've got bluegill (maybe hybrid, maybe green sunfish) and yellow perch,, if you get the same size you can keep them together, the channel cats will make a meal of them once they are a little bigger
mine at a little duckweed but not much, they ate lots of bugs after i added a small light to the outdoor pond.. but they won't eat much veg stuff.
feed the extra to worms, or bsf (black soldier fly)

hybrid bluegill will supposedly outperform regular bluegill in the first year or so, but after that, studies are indicating that regular bg will do better.. if you feed well they will grow well..

yp are slow growers, but a favorite of mine, so thats what i;m going with,, they prefer cooler water, they didn't do very well when the ft temps got into the high 80's.. i think catfish are probably a bit more resilient, but my wife can't eat them so they are out for me

hi there I am in Australia and I have Jade perch They eat just about all veges including zuchinni flesh.... I think they are very similar to your Talapia in their eating habits eat just about anything and they grow a little quicker not sure about the taste of the talapia but the few yanks ive heard from do like them.... Temperature wise Jade perch like 24 degree water for best eating and growth mine eat in winter when the water gets down to 18 degrees but they only eat in 3 weeks the amount I usually feed in 1 day...

You need to see if there are any aquaponics people around you to see what different fish they have

Ausyfish near childers do export Jade perch all over the world if you wanted jade perch...