Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hello! I'm a 6ft tall redheaded mom of four (yes I do stand out a slight bit) who has always loved gardening/food preserving and as a kid was passionate about breeding fish in aquariums. And yes, I run a bit eccentric but life's more fun that way.

So... I've been interested in aquaponics for quite a while, since it seems right up my alley, but up until recently I was renting a house and my landlord wouldn't have been keen on the idea of IBC totes in the back yard, lol. I did, however, get my mom into it last year so as I begin this (trial and error) venture myself in the next growing season, I have my own nearly unlimited blue tilapia source since she's got fry and fingerlings galore.

My mom found her ebb and flow system more difficult that she had thought, moved to a continuous flow, and then eventually ended up separating her garden and fish production. I can't for the life of me understand why you would grow a garden, and raise fish separately, but then again, I've not tried aquaponics yet and I have much, much to learn before I attempt it on any real scale...

But as of last night, the baby steps of my journey began, lol. My kids noticed that there were some tilapia fry in one of grandma's ponds and begged me to get some for the aquarium we just got. I've got about 15 in a little 10 gallon aquarium (I had a lot of aquariums as a kid, so yes, I'm keeping an eye on it, testing, and will do partial water changes while it's cycling) and I'm hoping to build up some fish production before gardening season begins next year. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, seeing as I will probably go broke buying aquariums/filters/pumps off craigslist and filter supplies, but hey, gotta start somewhere right?

Anyway, I don't know much about aquaponics yet, probably not even enough to be dangerous, but I'm reading and researching.

Nice to meet you all.

Hey, fellow Florida newbie here. Welcome and good luck! I've been reading a lot about aquaponics in the last few months, but you're probably ahead of me with your gardening and fish-raising experience (of which I have none)!

Welcome trivial Your opening line made me giggle.

nice to see someone closer to my location, welcome!

Thank you everyone. Glad I could make you laugh Charlie, lol. I'm a bit of a nut and I don't take myself too seriously so that happens often on forums I post on. This is my first aquaponics forum though, and I'm quite glad to be here.

Well, I bought three 40 gallon aquariums from a fish store breeder guy who was going out of business. So, I set one of them up with some 2-3 inch tilapia from my mom's place. I did my best at trying to figure out the sex and got a male and four females. I figure if I guessed right, later on these could be a good breeding group. From reading, I'm thinking I may need a few more females in there, but I've gotta let the tank cycle first.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome trivial ap sounds great for you and your kids enjoy
cheers brett&vicky