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15 Feb ’12
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that's un-american if you ask me
21 Mar ’14
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Definitely un-texan. Fried catfish is the most beloved gringo food in all the land.
6 Feb ’14
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31139 said:
...a 3000 gallon tank ... I hope to produce as much as a hundred pounds of tilapia a year out of the tank.
Don't forget to calculate for the adult bioload (poop to fish mass to water ratio) if you haven't already. Here is an online calculator http://www.aqadvisor.com/
Also, since Tilapia are a breed of Cichlid, don't forget the aggression factor which could out pace the bioload.
I was able to use the following numbers without red flagging: http://www.aqadvisor.....0912011177:
46 adult Blue Tilapia (sustainable quantity) weighing an average of 5 pounds each = 230 pounds
Deducting 1 pound per fish to estimate fish meat only = 184 pounds Blue Tilapia meat
One more useful link: http://www.fishbase......search.php
6 Feb ’14
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31376 said:
They have tilapia, hybrid bluegill perch, and catfish
Just a heads up, catfish have a very large bioload (they poop by the metric ton) for their size. It would reduce the number of fish you could sustain in your tank.
21 Mar ’14
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Thanks earthenstead, that sounds even better than I had hoped. 180 pounds of tilapia a year would be truly fantastic.
6 Feb ’14
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31584 said:
Thanks earthenstead, that sounds even better than I had hoped. 180 pounds of tilapia a year would be truly fantastic.
What I provided is only an example. Run the numbers for yourself using the exact fish breed (or breeds) that you intend to keep.
Do your research and educate yourself on fish keeping. Pay special attention to learning how to manage the nitrogen cycle. Remember to manage your bioload ratio. Never exceed your bioload potential as it will trigger a chain of events which will disrupt the nitrogen cycle's balance and can kill your fish population.
Tilapia will breed out of control if both sexes are kept together. You will want to segregate males from females, and will also want to keep Fry (baby fish) apart from adults of either sex.
What I know comes mostly from time I spent learning about keeping a hobby aquarium on the aquahobby.com forum. Their emphasis is on humane fish keeping. The principals I learned there are transferable to aquaponic fish keeping.
I would recommend to anyone interested in doing aquaponics joining the aquahobby or similar hobby aquarium forum and telling them you want to start a 100 gallon freshwater aquarium but know little. Ask for stocking advice and about potential pitfalls. Or better still, actually start a 20 gallon hobby aquarium with the help of the forum. Either way, ask about Cichlids and about Catfish as both breeds will spurn very impassioned discussion.
DO NOT EVER get your advice from a fish or pet store. Often they are not well informed, and since they are there to sell fish, the more fish you kill, the more you need to replace. It is not in a store's best interest for you to be a knowledgeable fish keeper. The same goes for breeders or anyone selling you fish or fish keeping products. Buyer beware.
21 Mar ’14
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I am so lost right now on what to do for filtration. My original plan was to just build a 55 gallon drum sand filter that will gravity feed into a duckweed bed. But I cant decide what pumps to use, if I wsnt to go solar powered, if I do go solar powered do I want to run a large battery backup or perhaps run with all ac motors and just run off the grid at night. So lost right now
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