Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am planting some lettuce, chives, basil and cilantro today. I hope they do well.

Tim, I think the problem was he had too large a pic (didn't fit on my screen either) and the horizontal scroll bar came up...and the quote/edit boxes were off the screen, now he has edited, all is back to normal (after he had found the edit button - which was off the screen - hidden because of the scroll bar function - that put it off the screen )

All is okay now - cause he found the edit button (off the screen..............)

It's all cool now...

I came across a light in the junk room and so I installed it under the growbed over the fish tank..... It is awesome! You can see the fish so clearly and it seems to atract them. I think I will probably condition them for feeding so that when I turn on the light, they will get food. That way I can see them all at once in the evenings.

I got the basket at the market today for a $1.25 US and wire tied it to the pump so that the pump is held off the bottom of the tank about 25 cm. Running clean now and GBs cycle 3 times per hour......

I can go to bed happy now.

It might help to attract a few insects as well.

by the way, any idea anyone how many fresh water shrimp (prawns I can through in with my tilapia? I have a chance to pick some up next week but don't want to over do it.

2400 liter tank.... I ws thinking between 50 and a hundred....is that unreasonable?

The lettuce seeds sprouted today but none of the other seeds. The tomatoes I transplanted have not done much in a week and are truning abit pale on the leaves. Not enough Sun? Not enough Nutes?

I came home from a trip yesterday and saw a sign for red Tilapia. When I drove in to the place it was closed down so I asked a watch man if they had anything they could sell me. They had several tanks with shrimop but there are still too many unknowns there. Then I went to a tank of breeeders. They had 500=700 gram fish males and females....red(pink) tilapia. I got them for $1.60 US per pair. I only got 1 pair. But I know where the place is now.

Today I went to San Salvador. On the way back I went past another Tilapia farm so I stopped in. They sell Nile tilapia at $.04 US each. They are between 75 and 100 grams. I bought 250. $10.00 total. Janet, they are big enough to separate for sexing.... It is actually very easy by sight. Anyway, I should have plenty of nutrients in the water now! They all seem to be happy and getting along.

Bloody cheap!

The shrimp will live in the tank if they are used to local temps (your systems temps) so it's a great way to supplement, the fish eat what they can (catch) and leave the rest for the next attempt.

Would be an easy way to feed before a holiday too. Just with the size have some kind of gauze over your pump inlet so they aren't minced.

Lettuce sprout quickly compared to many other seeds.

Yikes those is cheap fish!

Wow! I am so jealous of how easy it is for you to get the tilapia! And so cheap! I'm still waiting for Miami to call and confirm that they are shipping. I guess it won't be this week I'm glad to hear that the sexing is easy. All the other cichlids that I've kept had distinct markings or fin-length to help tell male from female. So inspecting private parts of fish had me a little worried.

Since adult tilapia are more herbivore, the shrimp might actually be safe from them to some degree. The younger tilapia might try for the shrimp though. Hmmm, not sure on that one. I'd say the best holiday feeder would be a big handful of duckweed.

DT, how long is a 75-100 gram tilapia (measured lips to very end of tail)? I still have problems thinking in terms of fish weight instead of fish length.

some of the fish they gave me are as long as 6". On average, they are around 3.5 to four inches. The breeding pair are both right at 12 inches in length (30 cm).

It was obvious that the people bagging fish were not the owners of the place. They also had a huge tank full of comets. Next time I go by there I will by a few of them for another tank.

Today thay all seem to be very ahppy and are eating heartily. I will have to buy another 100 lb bag of feed soon if I keep adding fish. At the moment with 300 fish of varying size, I am using two large handsfull of fish pellets and they are eating it all in two feedings. We'll see if that changes.

Isn't that Lava medium lovely???? Wow, could you import some my way;)

Might want to get a seperate fish tank/aquarium/barrel/something set up right away for the fry you will undoubtedly start seeing in your tank. That is if you keep the males/females together, or better yet have a way to put 3-4 females in with one male. Great setup DT

DT, be careful of your ammonia and nitrite. That's an awfully big jump in bio-load with a young bacteria colony. Feed lightly, and hold off on the shrimp or other additional critters for a month or so.

I am keeping an eye on the amonia and nitrites and nitrates. I have pulled up anything green from the yard and paced it in the GB to begin to absorb the nutes as soon as they begin manifesting...... I actually have an established bacteria colony since I put one of my old growbeds in the expanded ones. Hopefully that has kick started things. The GBs had about a weekand a half headstart.