Most often articles about Aquaponic system focused on the plants, if you are a fish eater then nothing comes close to the feeling of joy and exhilaration of harvesting fresh fish from your backyard – knowing that this protein source is clean, free of toxic chemicals and disease-causing microorganisms. As you may already know, an aquaponic system depends on three main factors to be successful, fish, plants and bacteria. Without fish, your organic produces will not have the key nutrients that they need to survive. Without plants, your fish will not have the fresh and filtered water that they need to thrive as the water will be filled with ammonia, nitrates and other harmful produces emitted from the fish. How to select the right fish for your aquaponic system?
No need for you to be a seasoned expert to raise fish in Aquaponic system, the advice in this article should help you to better your strategies, which will make it easier for you to grow fish the Aquaponic way.
Tilapia is a good choice for rearing edible fish. Buy smaller “feeder fish” to experiment with your aquaponic system. Once you become more comfortable with your setup, tilapia would be a good choice for an aquaponic system. If you live in relatively warm places, consult with your agriculture bureau to see whether or not you can raise tilapia in your backyard.
Another good choice besides Tilapia is the Silver perch that grow well under a variety of conditions. Perch are omnivorous and will happily eat green scraps as well as Duckweed and Azolla. They grow within a wide temperature range, though they’re not as fast growing as many other fish, taking 12-18 months for fingerlings to grow to plate size, this is a fresh water fish that easily thrive on a pond.
Barramundi are often grown in aquaponic systems through the warmer months of the year. Most growers will buy fairly mature stock so that they can harvest larger fish, at the end of the growing season. Barramundi that is grown in an aquaponic system has an exceptionally clean, crisp taste.
Murray cod are a magnificent native Australian fish, known to grow to enormous sizes in their native habitats, their tank culture is still in reasonably early days. Murray cod are grown in recirculating aquaculture systems, and can also been grown in aquaponic systems, hopefully this fish will be utilized more over time because they are quick growing, and a great eating fish. One of the downfalls is that they must be kept at high stocking densities, and kept well fed otherwise they cannibalize each other. These are some of the more common edible freshwater fish that aquaponic system lovers like to raise.
The question of how much fish should you raise in aquaponic system? As for how many fish can you raise in your aquaponic system, it really depends on how much space and the type of filtration system that you have.
For a small-scale structure, the general rule of thumb is to add half a pound of fish for every gallon for water. The number of fish that you have in your aquaponic system also has a bearing on how much vegetation your system can support. The three key factors that you should be aware of are: The volume of fish you have in the tank , The malnutrition, weight and size of the fish, How much food is being added to the system daily. If you are utilizing a simple setup where there are elevated growing beds, the general rule of thumb is that you will need at lease sixty grams of fish food per day for every square meter of growing vegetation. If you are growing more demanding vegetables, you’ll probably need at least one hundred grams of fish food per day as your plants are completely dependent on the nutrients that the fish produces.
Instead, if the fish produce insufficient nutrients, then it will become a lot harder for the vegetables to grow as the water will have very minimal level of nutrients. On the other hand, if there are too much nutrients, then you will be running the risk of poisoning the fish as the plants cannot filter the water fast enough. You will have to find the balance that will allow your aquaponic system to support and sustain both the fish and the produces.