Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Great haul there Rairdog, nice catch

I've never tried them. From what I've read they need to be started from fingerlings to get on pellets. They are hard to find in the local reservoirs. I usually only get a few on ice and ice out. I talked with the DNR on the ice and they are making a comeback. We came to the conclusion it was the invasive zebra muscles. Water clarity is also improving. We also have invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil which gives them a place to lay eggs. I'm sure the short term benefits of these will come to a unfortunate end.

Thanks.....gotta make the best out of a harsh winter.

Well it's possible but I don't think you'll have any troubles with the wild caught ones, especially if there are Bluegill hitting the feed in the same tank. Keith or one of the guys growing Yellow Perch would know more about this I think.

Hmm, I'd be careful about the zebra and quagga muscles, don't want them plugging up the pipes in your system. The Villagers are tiny and would be easy to transport. Might be worth seeing if a salt bath dip for the fish with kill them .

I might try some Perch in my native aquarium to experiment. I figured it would take a larger tank and cooler temps to keep them flourishing. My tanks now get up to 85 plus.

I always try to do my collecting just after ice out to avoid picking up strays and minimizing parasites. I think Zebra muscles breed between 65 and 70 f. The only parasites I've had were from store bought minnows and summer collecting. Learned my lesson early on in my native aquariums. I haven't salted any tanks in a few years. We do have black grub here especially in the back waters so I avoid them.

Great thread you started Rairdog, lots of useful information, thanks to you and all who contributed, I'll be coming back here when I'm starting up my wee project.

Thanks....looks like great weather and a beautiful place in Pak Nam Pho. I had to look it up out of curiosity.

Pretty fish pictures, love them!

What do you mean by " they are very vulnerable"?

I just picked up 50 black and 50 hybrid crappie (3") from a fish farm and I am starting my feed training process that I developed on red ear sunfish the last 3 years. Considering crappie are hardy to all of north america and fairly active in cold water compared to other species, I thought they would be a great choice for aquaponics assuming i can get around the whole feeding thing.

I have had success getting 1-2 in fingerlings caught in minnow traps on flakes and small pellets. They were mixed in with same size long ears and bluegill and were bullied to death. They were very timid and hide most of the time. I have also had LE's and GSF kill my black crappie that was twice their size in other set ups. Of course these are very aggressive fish. That is possibly why crappie school until the get above 12 in around here. They are also not as aggressive when caught off the ice compared to bluegill. You have to tease them to trigger a response most of the time especially until the water temp approaches 50. Most of the time they don't put up a fight until they get to the surface and see you. These are just some of my observations and honestly didn't seem worth the effort. Keep in mind they are both very accessible to me and it is legal to capture wild fish and put in aquarium here. You have a very different setup. One suggestion that has helped me was a powerhead near the surface to get pellets to swirl.

One of my seed germination methods for warm plants. Simply fold up a paper towel and lay seeds on it. Fold in half and moisten. Place them in a zip-lock bad and label. Then I put them on top of the electric hot water heater which maintains about 75 f.


This is a bell pepper seed after 3 days.


I gently place in GB or in this case they will go in peat pucks until the GH warms up more. Something I have been experimenting with is placing the peat pucks directly in the GB to avoid root shock. I did some some spinach and lettuce last year and lost very little peat out of the netting. Not sure how thicker stemmed plants will do.

Here is some spinach, lettuce, kale, broccoli and a celery stalk for cool weather growing.

I ordered some 40% shade cloth because the GH temps are already approaching 100f in 50-60f temps. It is super light weight so at first I just draped it ove some mason string line. Then after looking at it I told Missy it would be nice to retract it if I had some kind of hoop and hung it under the string. She comes out with some craft book rings and said here ya go. So we hung it and it pushes back with one person in about 10 seconds.

Mother nature is really playing havoc this year around here. Yesterday it was mid 30's outside and I had to pull the shadecloth out when temps in the GH hit 87. This is an unusual cool spring but the GH keeps kicking out warm temps on a sunny to partly sunny day.
It's 28 deg f outside and snowing.


The seed starting shelf is getting residual heat from the house with windows open. I can't complain because it has gave me more heat than I have given it overall. I take the toms and peppers in at night. The toms are doing great but the peppers are slow when temps are below 80.




The rest of the GB's are doing well with cool weather crops. Spinach, kale, lettuce, broccoli and fennel seem to grow even when water temps are mid 40's to 50. Chard hasn't grown much but I think it was more of the shock from early transplanting.


Overall, I have come to the conclusion that cool weather plants grow slow when water temps are below 50 even when air temps are 60 to 80 plus on average during daylight. You can heat the water but it just makes condensation and more havoc with a GH. You can heat GH, FT's and GB's but it will cost more than it's worth unless you have a cheap source of heat such as geothermal. Temperature fluctuations seem to play a major part in growing in GB's compared to earth mass heating from soil. It seems it more about root temperature than air temperature and consistency. I guess there is a reason why mother nature allows fish to survive and plants to grow at her mercy. It's just nice to have a GH and beat her by a couple months.

And on another note...after lowering the ph to below 8(with HCL). I have notice a big improvement in my lettuce. It is much greener and sweeter than the ones with pale leaves i grew last fall.

I may have sprung a leak!