Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

If you used a small mesh wire fence for the quail they aren't likely to kick anything out.

Not sure but I think Rabbit poop is about 20 % protein.

I used to breed show rabbits (minilops, mini cashmeres and large chinchilla (my favourites)) and at one stage had up to 63 rabbits in my shed at a time. Their poop is only half of the story - they pee bucket loads too. I would be sus about putting rabbits over a fish pond because whilst their pee is a good nitrogen source it is extremely acidic too and would make it difficult to keep your pH stable. All this talk about adding extra nutrients into the system makes me wonder - is it really necessary? Isn't there enough nutrient in fish waste already or is the removal process by the plants in the growbeds that efficient it can handle even higher loads? I know it's related to planting density etc but with the growth that you already get is it necessary to add even more? Do your nitrogen readings in your recirculated water go back to zero after passing through the growbeds? Another problem with using rabbits is you have to make your cages somehow mosquito proof in Australia or calici or myxo will take them out.

Earthbound,
I would also be concerned about their little feet on the grow bed surface which is going to be sharp and wet most of the time. I think the wet peagravel would be very tough for them -mostly game and poultry want access to a dry soily or leafy surface - maybe with the exception of ducks but even they would want a break from the gravel most of the day.
It would be time consuming but if i was going to have them work on a grow bed surface I would be keeping them elsewhere and having them on the surface only for a short time during the day. That would be a pain in the bum having to move them back and forth and they're pretty nervous sort of birds - i dont think they'd take to being handled alot.

Earthbound,
I would also be concerned about their little feet on the grow bed surface which is going to be sharp and wet most of the time. I think the wet peagravel would be very tough for them -mostly game and poultry want access to a dry soily or leafy surface - maybe with the exception of ducks but even they would want a break from the gravel most of the day.
It would be time consuming but if i was going to have them work on a grow bed surface I would be keeping them elsewhere and having them on the surface only for a short time during the day. That would be a pain in the bum having to move them back and forth and they're pretty nervous sort of birds - i dont think they'd take to being handled alot.

20% protein? Coool......

My system generally never gets water to the surface of the gravel, and I guess I would think of putting a little box/pen there for them. Of course they would only live on the grow bed for maybe a week or two at a time before being returned to some other pen on the ground, the idea being to just use them like you might let chooks into an old garden bed for a week or two....

Interesting thought on the rabbit pee OzV, I hadn't considered that at all.....

I am running a duck pond instead of a fish pond for my aquaponics. Its working great. The water is crystal clear and the plants are going great. I am planning to add a fish tank in series to the system because if i put fish in with the ducks they will get eaten in no time. I had not thought of duck poo as fish food, but I will give it a go, i can collect dried duck pats off the paving as an experiment

Do you have any phots Duckpond?

I know that tilapia are sometimes used downstream from other fish since they are so efficient at filtering particles out of the water for food. They clean up fish poo and uneaten food crumbs.