Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ok, title is self explanatory....

Is there in existence (if not, lets make one) a list of edible fresh water fish that will breed in an AP system, creating a self replacing livestock system...

1) Nile Tilapia
2) ?

Goldfish or carp. Not my preferred fish dinner but millions of people around the world eat them.

will catfish?

catfish prefer a cave or something similar to breed in. They breed them in ponds using 5 gal buckets or small barrels with a whole cut in the lid and weighed down so they dont float. In a tank? Not sure if they would have enough room, but given enough volume of water, I assume catfish would breed.

bluegill

I think that tilapia would be the best for your part of the world ,most people complain because they won't stop breeding.I have had them breed in a small aquarium.

I have catfish, crappy and bluegill and they will all breed well in a small cold water pond. The catfish have to have a bucket or tire and only breed apr-jun once a year and they have be a couple years old. Crappie will try to eat eggs so they should be bred alone or make sure they are well fed if sharing with tank mates. Also baby crappie mostly eat phytoplankton until they are big enough to eat potworms/bugs so make sure you have plenty of live food sources available.

Absolutely! Ive got nile tilapia now, and they have just bred and given me more then i can handle for the next gen..

However Im back in Oz soon and will surely miss the benefits of raising tilapia in AP

They say that the puympkinseed sunfish is a good breeder, it's a kind of panfish very similar to the bluegill (a very close cousin)

Pretty much all lepomis species,
Channel catfish
Bullhead catfish

Do you need gravel in a breeder tank for Tilapia? I read the males like to make a nest in the sand. What if there's no sand a la AP?

Mine bred fine with no sand just the smooth bottom of the IBC

Sweet!
How big to they have to be to breed?

From what I hear they can breed at 3". I have no idea how many little ones I have in my big tank. I just know the 4 in my IBC tank have breed.

How do you get bluegills or yellow perch to breed in the tank? can you just put in buckets of gravel?