Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Thanks for the tips Deuem!

I know the bio load isn't that bad at the moment because the fish are tiny....

Luckily I have another 175L fish tank all ready to set up in the office hubby is building for me...

The idea with getting 12 babies is they'll be happier being a bit crowded for now and once I drop the water level to convert the tank to a proper riparium the fish will be bigger and I might be able to split the group between the two tanks.

Look what I did today!

Acrylic jug planter all set up and in place!

It's not "perfect" (Would have preferred a plain acrylic cylinder that was as tall as the tank, rather than something that looks like a jug.)

But it does have a certain charm and it definitely does the job of protecting the bamboo roots.

cute Kool-Aid for the fish

Is there a good source to learn how to set up an aquarium like this? I have a small system and would like to have something more visual like this. I have just begun with my experiment but I am seeing that larger systems have a lot of things that the smaller systems don't seem to need.

Do the fish eat the roots in the water? I assume this is why you used the acrylic with holes is to protect?.

As far as overflowing goes, I see no reason a tank should overflow in this type situation if a person doesn't put more water than the tank can hold. And you mentioned losing the fish if the tank fails- why not use an air pump? I have water driping into my tank and an air pump and the fish are very active.

As long as the fish are that small the tank will remain pretty looking. When they get larger they will tear it apart every night. Just my White Koi would turn it upside down every day. He is big enough to flip over that wood and turn the caves over looking for food. The cichlids will get big in a year. They will need live food and you will need a larger tank for them. I have never had a cichlid that gets tank bound in size. Mostly food bound. When they get larger, they should be eating fish the size of what you have now. Any fish will eat any fish if it fits in its mouth but these guys will go one step further and bite food in half or swallow more then they should. I have pulled fish out of other fishes mouths because of their eyes were bigger then their mouths. Most of the time the caught fish lived.