Anybody else play with aquaponics? Grow their own fish?

Will Carter

Will Carter

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Location
Burlington
Started the same thread on Pirate...figured I'd see if there was anyone here too...

I ate my first home grown tilapia for dinner tonight so I figured I'd start a thread.

afarm8.staticflickr.com_7261_7475845002_a9e2b3101b_z.jpg


They were still a bit small but i was getting hungry for some. I forgot to take a plate picture of them but they were quite tasty.

I started in my garage this winter and got about 20 or so fingerlings from a guy.
afarm8.staticflickr.com_7122_7475945908_f883243f79_z.jpg


Grew lots of lettuce and had lots of salads during the winter months.
afarm8.staticflickr.com_7256_7475960354_081a2d7bc7.jpg



Moved it outside when it got warmer. Made a larger grow bed and got a little greenhouse for the fishes.
afarm9.staticflickr.com_8143_7475844612_b2f786249f.jpg

afarm8.staticflickr.com_7257_7475832186_244fffc54c_z.jpg


Had/have broccoli, lettuce, peppers, strawberries, zucchini, cucumbers...

Now the fish are about ready to eat.

I started a small aquarium in the house with some herbs and lettuce. I have a couple Pacu that are growing huge really quick. We'll be eating those as well.
afarm9.staticflickr.com_8150_7475845266_d87d94827c_z.jpg

We harvested our herbs just a few days ago so they're kinda short.

I'll be getting a few more Pacu of craigslist shortly here I hope. They grow really fast and there's always people giving them away "Free to a good home". I'll give 'em a good home...on my plate.



Anybody else play around with aquaponics or just grow your own fish?
 
No i like catching em...(fishing icon) But i seen someone had released pacu into some lake yalou? in NC and ppl freaked out thinking they were pirahna, are pacu good eating whats kind of taste are they?? very interested how hard would it be to do this with catfish?? :beer: <goes well with catfish!
 
I hear Braxton grows a few fish....
 
x2 on Braxton being a good contact for ya. He might know a thing or 2.

I was waiting to hear about growing some herbs. Oregano, right???

On a serious note, what did you do for growing lettuce, etc during the winter months? We only get lettuce for a few weeks in spring before the heat kills it or it gets too old (growing it outside).
 
I grow all our fresh food with hydro in the winter months under t5ho's. Its very efficient and provides a bunch of food for minimal cost

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
 

Attachments

  • uploadfromtaptalk1341151301717.jpg
    uploadfromtaptalk1341151301717.jpg
    58.8 KB · Views: 207
C.Berry said:
No i like catching em...(fishing icon) But i seen someone had released pacu into some lake yalou? in NC and ppl freaked out thinking they were pirahna, are pacu good eating whats kind of taste are they?? very interested how hard would it be to do this with catfish?? :beer: <goes well with catfish!
Click to expand...
I plan to get some catfish whenever I get a chance/motivation to go fishing again...it's been too long. They're supposed to be easy to keep as well.

Haven't eaten Pacu yet but I've read it's tasty.

I guess they are a 'vegetarian' piranha. I feed them table scraps all the time. They have yet not eat something I've put in the tank. Lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, pork, chicken, beef...they don't seem to be picky. And they do tear it to bits like the piranha you see on the TV.
 
Oh yeah...I put two goldfish in there to see how they would get along with another race. The goldfish were 1.5 times bigger than the Pacu at the time and they immediately started eating the gold fish fin's off. Had to get 'em out of there pretty quick.
 
That's a really nice setup you've got going now, looks like at least a .75-1lb fish? Post up some pictures of what you've got going for filtration. I imagine that caged container is ~250 gallons?

Here is all i've got at the moment as far as "aquaponics" goes. At least all I can post on the internet :flipoff2: Greatly biased towards the fishmaking side. Still just soil pots irrgated with filtered fishwater. We have plans for a large scale greenhouse, just no time. Will hopefully build an ebb and flow table before the summer is over.

ai276.photobucket.com_albums_kk38_braxton357_photobucket_4798_1341288734410.jpg
 
I wish I had the time to get something like this going. I like being able to feed myself without hitting the grocery store. Will, did you gather all the info for your set up or is there a good reference to get started? This has my gears turning.
 
Interweb. Just start searching and reading. I don't know if there was one particular place but there are plenty of forums and how to's around.
 
Ive got a 1 acre pond stocked with catfish....every couple weeks or so Ill let Lane snag a 1-2lber out and we will cook him up.
Definitely cool.

The coolest thing was I caught a 3.5lb bass in Wylie last year, threw him in and re caught him this year...a little bigger maybe, but the color improvement was unbelievable. I wont eat anythign out of wylie but after a year in detox I might eat him next time I catch him...
 
Back
Top