Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The freezers were already watertight -- A couple were missing their drain plugs so I just filled the hole up with silicone.


Here's a video of the kids helping me convert dirt plants to ap.
http://vimeo.com/343397

I think I have another brood of baby Tilapia on its way.
What should I feed them, Janet? Goldfish flake food? Ground up Spirulina pellets? And I had another female in solitary hold eggs in her mouth for about 2 days. I guess she must have figured out they weren't going to hatch and swallowed them.

Another question: do you think it would be safe to have goldfish and a breeding pair of Tilapia in the same tank? Would the goldies try to eat the babies?

I must be starving the 4 Male tilapia in my garage tank. They launch themselves out of the water at feeding time. pretty fun, actually.

My wife just thanked me for filling up the garage with plants and fish. She likes to see green plants and have the fish for company when she does her morning jog on the treadmill.

my experience is that goldfish like a good fillet. I wouldn't mix them if you want to see any survivors. But that is just me.

I'm excited to report that I have two batches of tilapia babies. I've lost two or three females to the aggression of the males. So this time I decided to try the clipping the top lip of the males before I put them in with the ladies. Much better! I tried it in a 70 gallon and a 20 gallon aquarium. Within days, both girls had the characteristic bulging throat and tight-lipped attitude. I took the males out and put them in with the unaltered males (halfway expecting the clipped ones to get hurt by the other two -- not so)

Anyway, I'm pretty happy. If I watch long enough, I can see the little tiny tails wiggling in one fish's mouth. And I'm guessing that my 5 male tilapia are getting close to a kilo -- or at least a pound and a half.

One of my pacu's is even bigger.

I don't recommend doing aquaponics in a garage -- or even in a building connected to the house -- at least not in a cold climate such Alaska.

The heat in the water (70 to 85F) combined with agitation from pumps and airstones seems to make the air very humid. And when the temperature dropped to -10F, ice built up on the floor, the garage door, and the man door. I have an attic above the garage and the attic hatch is covered with mildew and drips constantly. Huge frost plumes form above the attic hatch -- waiting for the opportunity to drop on some unexpecting individual who ventures up there.

I bought the biggest portable home dehumidifier I could find and I'm running it full blast. The mould has dried out -- it still looks ugly on the walls and the wood, but at least it is not growing and making spores. This summer I'll have to air the place out, scrub it down, and then paint it with Kilz.
And the Metal Halide and Sodium lights I have in there make it a bit strange -- it is brighter and warmer in the garage than the house most of the time.

But my wife and mother-in-law like to run on the treadmill out there and look at the greenery, the fruits and flowers. I think the beauty of the plants ofsets the occasional (not so) faint smell of fish.

Nice to hear things are still ticking along Ems..... Merry Xmas to you all...

Give us a "Hoy" when Santa takes off will ya?

Hey ems, good to hear from you man. Love to see some new pics, get that camera fired up.

mini in door rain forest ems!!

no problems yet with those light fixtures and the high heavy humidity?
I am concerned about mold and mildew becoming problems down the road also. perhaps a wood stove would help dry things up.

congrats on those babies and thanks EMS for the tip on clipping the lip.

Can you post a pic of the male's lip? I'd like to see how much you took off. I'm also having problems with the male near-killing the gals.

I'll try to get a picture. The fish don't like to pose for pictures. It seemed a bit brutal (which is why I had not done it before) I just grabbed the top lip of the male and pulled it away from his face -- it has a bunch of small teeth like miniature velcro -- perfect for scraping algae off rocks or grabbing fins and scales. Anyway, it was obvious where to cut once I pulled it away from his face. I was able to cut it with kitchen scissors -- a little tough at the corners of his mouth -- and there was a hard chunk of thick tissue or cartilage at the top -- that was what bled the most. But not much blood. I caught the male, trimmed his lip, and tossed him into the female's tank. turned up the heat to 85F, and fed about two tablespoons of trout chow twice per day.

I doubt if I'll have problems with the light fixtures -- they are greenhouse fixtures. The transformers are oversized and potted with epoxy.

I wouldn't recommend a wood stove with fish unless you could guarantee that it wouldn't puff smoke. At my former employment -- a greenhouse, we bought some betas for a special promotion and kept warm in the boiler room. The boiler had a glitch in the sawdust feed and filled up the room with smoke. the fish all died.

Thanks, Ems! For the lip-trimming, I actually found a diagram, so if your fish aren't in the mood to pose, that's OK. I think I got it--looks like the whole upper lip. I also had refrained from trimming because it seemed cruel. But after seeing what the male has done to the females (repeatedly), it's not seeming so cruel anymore. I have talked dear husband in to helping with surgery after Christmas. We need to make sure we have no underaged witnesses, and I want an extra set of hands to help. The plan is
1) trim the previously selected male.
2) swap in two previously un-bred females along with the tougher of the 2 bred females so there are a choice of 3 females.
3) return the skittish female breeder to the general tank to be eaten in time.

I'm thinking maybe the females have been so unwilling since the male has been so rough on them. I mean, would you want to hang out with someone who was coming close to killing you?

I have no personal experience with tilapia yet, but I've read in a few different areas that you should put 1 male with at least 4-6 females in a tank without any gravel, and an area for the male to .... ahem.... ya know... a love shack?

My tinfoil barbs are like this. I have to have an overwhelming female to male ratio otherwise the male has free reign. He was a big bully till I got him enough girls.. Now he's happy.

I think the idea of having multiple gals is a good one, because then one should always be ready and willing while the others take a break. I do have a love shack set up, and the male has claimed it as his. The gals hide in PVC pipes. In a 50gal tank though, I can only fit so many fish.