Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Great conversation...

Balanced and self-contained aquaponics system - this is what I meant... all you have to do is to feed the fish what is locally available to you or grown in your household (not factory produced) and the system taking care of the rest.

I do not use factory-produced fish pellets for my fishes in the pond. Also wish not to use those expensive man-made nutrients, concoction of chemicals, etc.

You are either yet to discover that much more is required... especially in a commercial sense...

Or you're leaving things out of the conversation...

How/why would you consider an unproven methodology of fish feeding... if your main crop, in a commercial sense... is the growth of fish...

I'm sorry.. but the approach seems to be largely "suck it and see"... and I can't relate that to any basis for commercial production... or to any basis for offering consultancy...

Rupert, "such it and see" approach, I don't believe in that. Otherwise, I would not have invested my money on this demo pond. if you have time, please watch my blog post on "What we feed our fish in our aquaponics system? scheduled to be out tomorrow morning.

We are yet to prove ourselves as a successful aquaponics grower which does not mean we have to stop talking about it and create awareness among the local people who are interested in this new way of growing fish and plants in our locality. I think that should be fine. We are not imposing anything on anyone We are getting ready to help those people as you are always in this forum.

as per arbe's and maria's advice..the gravel guard has been replaced already... thanks again guys..

The major trick here is going to be developing/formulating a perfectly balanced fish feed (that is tasty and digestible for the fish while also providing everything the fish and plants need) from those locally available materials. I wish you luck, it is not an easy task. Universities, farmers and animal feed companies put much money, research, time and effort into formulating the best feeds to grow animals. You are not only trying to re-create that but also trying to do it while also trying to include a perfect fertilizer in the mix without causing harm to your fish. AND you are probably trying to do it without complete laboratory and vet facilities to check the progress of your Research and development.

How is your system doing?